
Class ^i 

Book_ 



■ S54 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



<£r 







S MAXIMAS AT ROME.B 



The Great Cities 



OF THE 



ANCIENT WORLD 



BY 



HAZEL SHEPARD 




^ 



COP 10 USL Y ILL USTRA TED 



NEW YORK 

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SOiNS 

9 Lafayette Place 




5$ 



N UNIFORM STYLE. 

Copiously Illustrated. 



o 



HEROES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERY. 
GREAT CITIES OF THE ANCIENT 

WORLD. 
REAT CITIES OF THE MODERN 

WORLD. 
PAUL AND VIRGINIA. 
ILLUSTRATED POEMS AND SONGS 

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 
LABOULAYE'S ILLUSTRATED FAIRY 

TALES. 

SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF AMERI- 
CAN BOYS. 

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 

LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ROBIN- 
SON CRUSOE. 

THE SWISS' FAMILY ROBINSON. 

LAMB'S TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE. 

WOOD'S ILLUSTRATED NATURAL 
HISTORY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



All bound in handsome lithographed double 
covers ; also in cloth. 

George Routledge 6° Sons, 

9 Lafayette Place, New York. 



Copyright, 1885, 
By Joseph L. Blamire. 



PREFACE. 



The object of this volume is to present a work descriptive of the Great Cities of 
the Ancient World, upon the same genera] plan as the companion book upon the 
" Great Cities of the Modern World," The endeavor baa been to call up life-like 
pictures of the outward appearance, the character and position of the capitals and large 

towns of ancient nations, as they stood in the days of their greatest splendor and im- 
portance. The aim has not been to describe their present ruined appearance or monu- 
mental records, but to put the result of knowledge gained from these and other sources 
into such shape that their original aspect might be clearly realized. It is a matter of 
regret that many of the chief cities of old have suffered too great ruin for anything like 
a complete description to be obtained, but the endeavor has been to make the best use 
of what is known without cumbering the narrative with either the scarcity or condition 
of records or by doubts and qualifications, uninteresting to young people. In addition 
to bringing out prominently the national or general position held by each city, effort has 
been made to indicate the influence it exerted upon later times, and to show what bene- 
fits we of the modern world have received from its people. In many cases, when a 
locality has been associated in history with great characters and important events, these 
are, in that connection, briefly described for the sake of giving greater life and interest 
to the scene, and to make history itself more real. 

There were monarchies of antiquity, such as those of China and India, whose early 
existence is so shrouded in mystery that an attempt to describe their first cities was 
given up for want of data. Both are known to have had kingdoms flourishing centuries 
before the Christian Era. The ancient civilization of China is believed to have been 
much the same as at present, and as is described in the "Great Cities of the Modern 



Preface. 

World." India has been almost entirely despoiled of ancient records and monuments, 
so, although its people were among the first races of the world, there are but scanty 
traces of any cities earlier than those of the Mohammedans of the Middle Ages. The 
descriptions are not based upon legends and doubtful accounts, but upon the most 
probable and most generally believed opinions of reliable authorities. The range of au- 
thors has been wide, and includes such standard writers as Niebuhr on Rome, Dyer on 
Athens, Wilkinson on Egypt, and Smith and Rawlinson on the earliest empires of the East. 
The best histories and cyclopgedias have also been consulted, beside a large number of 
other works bearing upon ancient topography and the manners and customs of early 
peoples, to all of which the Gre/^ Cities of the Ancient World gratefully acknowl- 
edges its debt of existence. 

Hazel Shepard. 



CONTENTS 







PAGE 


Italy : — 






Rome ...... 


7 




Ostia ...... 


48 




ma ...... 


48 




Tarentum ..... 


5° 




Cumae ...... 


5' 




Crotona ..... 


54 




Sybaris ...... 


54 




tua ..... 


55 




Arpinum ...... 


56 




Minor : — 






Tarsus ...... 


59 




Trey. <>r Ilium ' 


61 




Ephesus ..... 


66 




Smyrna ...... 


68 




Sardis ...... 


68 




Miletus ...... 


69 




Halicarnassus, or Zephyria 


70 




Comana ...... 


71 




iinus ..... 


71 




Ancyra ...... 


72 




Putara ...... 


72 


Greece : — 






Athens ...... 


75 




Piraeus ...... 


116 




Corinth ...... 


1 i.S 




Mycenae ..... 


121 




Sparta . . . ... 


125 



Contents. 



Syria : — 



Damascus 

Samaria 

Gaza 

Antioch 

Palrr^ra 

Baalbec 

Aleppo . 



Egyptian Cities of the Nile : — 

Memphis 

Thebes 

Tanis 

Heroopolis . 

Pelusium 

Heliopolis, or On 

Bubastis 

Sais 

Alexandria 
Colonies and Islands of the Mediterranean Sea 

Rhodes 

Carthage 

Agrigentum 

Syracuse 
Arabia : — 

Mareb 
Aden 

Arem 

Ocadh . 

Petra 

Bozrah . 
Persia : — 

Pasargadse . 

Persepolis 

Lower Ecbatana 

Agabatana 

Northern Ecbatana 

Raga, or Rhages 

Baoistan 



page 



Contents. 

PAGE 

Syria: — 

Beroea ......... 222 

Jerusalem ........ 222 

Joppa . . . . . . . . -231 

lyre ......... 232 

Ion ......... 234 

Caesarea ....... . 238 

Mesopotamia: — 

Nineveh ......... 240 

Asshur ......... 242 

Khorsabad ......... 242 

Babylon ........ 249 



CITIES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD. 



o 



ITALY. 

N the Seven Hills rising out of the fertile Italian Campagna bordering the broad, 
deep, flowing river Tiber, stood the queenly city of ancient Rome.* Round it 
ran the strong wall 
Of Semus.with its great . 
opening upon broad roads 
that threaded the entire Ital- 
ian peninsula, connecting the 
capital with other great cities 
of the country and uniting 
the provinces to Rome in 
political, commercial, anil 
intellectual interests. They 
intersected the Campagna 
and led to the various sub- 
urbs, which in Rome's palm- 
iesl days were almost as fine- 
ly built up as the city itself. 
The mighty capital lay main- 
ly on the left or eastern side 
of "Father Tiber;" fine 
streets, circuses, and splen- 
did palaces stretched from 
the water's edge to the 
heights of the Seven Hills, 
and lay in the valleys be- 
tween, the plains beyond, and crowned the surrounding elevations. The greatest 
magnificence and the largest extent of Rome was reached at about the time Christ was 




* See description of Rome in " Great Cities of the World." 



8 Cities of the Ancient World. 

born, but for hundreds of years before then it was grand and powerful, the greatest city 
in all the known world, and the capital of the foremost nation of the age. It began as 
a small town on the Palatine Hill, we do not know exactly how or when; but it was about 
750 years before Christ. This first settlement is known in history as the City of Romulus, 
but scholars say nowadays that Romulus and his brother Remus never lived, and that 
there is no truth in the story about the wicked uncle throwing them into the Tiber, the 
wolf that nursed them, the herdsman that brought them up as his own sons, and their 
great prowess in restoring Alba Longa to their grandfather and building a city where 
the herdsman had found them. If all this pretty story is a legend, one thing is sure, 
that in some way the city was founded, and it was named Rome, although not perhaps 
by Romulus, after himself, but from a word meaning border or frontier, because the first 
settlement here was probably a frontier outpost. But as we do not know the real history 
of the foundation of the city, and the legend has been told for ages, it has become like 
a part of Roman history, and people give Romulus and his followers the credit of found- 
ing the city, which may have been built by some military tribe of Italy or an adjacent 
country. At any rate the earliest age of Rome is called after Romulus, just as the time 
when Elizabeth reigned in England is known as the Elizabethan Age. But when we 
read of what Romulus did, we must remember that probably Romulus did not do it at 
all, but that it was done in the time that the legends say he lived. The little " city of 
Romulus " covered only the Palatine Hill, but it was surrounded by a wall having three 
gates, and soon became quite full of people. The wall was carried along the edge of 
the hill all round, and spaces were left clear of all buildings inside and also outside this 
enclosure, which was looked upon as holy ground, and was called the Pomcerium. This 
settlement of Romulus, the beginning of the great city, was also called Roma Quadrat a, 
or Square Rome. The legends tell of Numa Pompilius and other kings that followed 
Romulus, and ruled over a fast-growing city of warlike people who made great conquests. 
Rome grew very rich, and spread its territory to the adjacent hills, where other tribes 
had founded cities. In the reign of Tarquinius Priscus great works of improve- 
ment were carried on; new streets and squares were laid out, and public buildings 
erected. 

Servius Tullius, who followed, continued the work of Tarquin, enlarged the Pomce- 
rium, and built a new wall. This enclosed all of the famous Seven Hills with a line of 
mighty fortifications. These were of free-stone, with towers for watching and defense, 
like the ramparts of the Greeks. At short distances the wall was set with arches so as 
to give greater strength and firmness to the stonework, not for entrance, for they were 
compactly filed in; the gates were more massive and imposing structures, always located 
in places where the land formed a natural protection, and made a convenient point of 
observation from within and a bold defense without. The entrances to Rome were 
sometimes wide massive structures of one, two, and three arches, as powerful in protec- 



Rome. i r 

tion as they were majestic in architecture. The city which the wall of Servius enclosed 
was somewhat like a fan, with the Capitoline Hill for its pivot. Toward this point a semi- 
circle of hills extends from the east. The most northerly is the Quirinal; then comes 
the Yimerial, and with the Esquiline on the east, the upper half of the crescent is com- 
pleted in a set of promontories, which further back stretch in a united plain eastward to an 
embankment, sixty feet high and fifty feet broad at its base, which was part of the 
fortification of Servius. On the southwest the ring of hills is continued by the Palatine, 
with the Coelian behind it; and due south of the Capitol the Aventine stands upon the 
brink of the river. On the plain of the Esquiline the fortifications and the embankment 
are here continued by the regular wall, which engirdled the Coelian and the Aventine, and 
continued over the river, enclosed a long narrow tract on the Janiculum. The Tiber 
made a sudden westward bend a little to the north, but changed its course to the south- 
cast and back again in a serpentine trail till it was past the city. The westerly wall 
above the river bounds the Capitoline and theQuirinal Hills, and adjoins the earthworks 
at the upper end. Here was the Coelian Gate, the most northerly one in the city. Between 
the Quirinal and the bold curves of the river lay the Campus Martins, where the greater 
part of modern Rome stands. The whole circuit of Servius'* wall measured about 

;i miles. It stood without being altered for many centuries, while the city grew 
and grew, till her great suburbs extended far into the beautiful Campagna, and Rome 
without the walls was as great as Rome within. For a long time the fortifications were 
not needed, and were allowed to fall into decay, while the magnificent city literally had 
no bounds. It was in the third century after Christ that the Aurelian wall was built, which 
marks the present site of Rome old and new. Beside the Coelian Gate the principal 
entrances to the city through the wall of Servius Tullius were the Flumentane and the 
Carmental, on the west between the Capitol and the river; below these the Trigemina 
stood, between the Aventine and the river, and probably led to the Sublician Bridge, which 
Aneus had built to connect the city proper with Janiculum. On the southeast, between 
the Aventine and the Coelian, the Capene or Capuan Gate pierced the wall at the foot of 
the Coelian Hill, and through it the Appian Way led into the city. On the eastern side 
of the Coelian it was the Coelimontane Gate that led to the villa-built Campagna, and 
above it the Porta EsquUina opened on two roads that stretched across the plain. The 
Esquiline Gate stood at the foot of the earthworks, and is the last of the famous porta 
through which conquering armies, mighty generals, valuable plunder and richly laden 
embassies passed for centuries to the glory and wealth of the Eternal City. 

The Capitoline Hill was as much the core of Roman life as it was pivot of the city 
plan. It was the smallest, the steepest, and the most famous of the hills, the citadel 
and sanctuary of the city. It was long known as the Hill of Saturn or Saturninus, until 
Tarquin chose one of the two peaks of the hill called Tarpeian for a magnificent temple, 
dedicated to the three great gods of the Latins and Etruscans, Jupiter, Juno, and 



12 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Minerva; ever after this part of the hill was called the Capitol or Chief Place, while the 
upper part was the Arx or Citadel. The Tarpeian Rock was a steep precipice on the 
south-western side of the Capitoline, from which traitors were hurled. When enemies 
marched up to Rome, their first wish was to get their hold upon the citadel and the 
Capitol; so the Tarpeian Rock was usually the chief point of attack. In 460 b.c. the 
Sabine Herdonius scaled this cliff at the head of a band of slaves, and with them was 
killed by the Romans a few days later. 

There is another story told, that years after the Gauls climbed the rock, near the 
Carmental Gate, and had almost reached the summit when the cries of the sacred geese 
of Juno roused the officer Manlius, who rushed out and hurled the leader of the band 
down the precipice. He dragged others down in his fall, and so the Capitol was 
saved. In remembrance of this deliverance a goose was carried in triumph every year 
across the Capitoline Hill. Manliuswas himself hurled from the rock afterward, having 
been condemned by the Patricians on the pretext that he wished to make himself king. 
The great Capitoline temple was a majestic building, in a commanding position on a plat- 
form, made by levelling the summit of the rock on the lower of the two Saturnian peaks. 
It was an immense and almost square edifice two hundred feet long, with three ranges of 
columns in front and a majestic single colonnade extending along each side. The por- 
tico was reached by a great flight of steps, and, like the interior, was adorned with the 
work of the greatest ancient sculptors. The pediment was covered with figures in relief, 
and on the roof were groups of statuary made of burnt clay. Within, the temple was 
divided into three apartments; in the centerwasa statue of Jupiter, made of terra cotta, 
and painted in the Etruscan style of art; the figure was clothed like a victorious Roman 
general, and held in his right hand a thunder-bolt, and in his left a spear. A gilt statue 
of Minerva occupied the cella at the right of Jupiter, and the figure of Juno stood at 
the left. Every year a nail was put in the wall adjoining the sanctuary of Minerva, to 
mark the lapse of time. In the center of the temple, which was open to the sky, there 
stood a statue of Terminius, the god of boundaries and landmarks. The gates of the 
temple were of gilt bronze, and the pavements were of rich mosaics. Here the greatest 
religious festivals were held, the triumphs celebrated, and the chief heroes of the battle- 
field were brought in a pompous procession to lay their trophies at the feet of the 
" father of gods and men," and to hold their banquets in the feast-hall beyond. The 
Capitoline temple was the chief of four hundred sanctuaries that graced the city. Close 
beside it stood the temple of Fides, and near by the twin temples of Mars and Venus, 
while that of Jupiter Tonans, or the god of thunder, was at a later day placed so near 
the great temple that it was considered a porch to the Capitol, and had some bells hung 
upon its pediment. Between the two heights of the Saturnian Hill was a level space 
called the Intermontium, where the Tabularium or Record Office stood, keeping sacred 
the archives of the city. This, in connection with the Treasury, was used as a library, 



Rome. 



'3 



a place for lectures, and for some other special purposes. The Arx was also partially 
occupied by temples; and here in some of the earliest days of the city several altars to 
Jupiter and other deities stood with the gigantic statue to the "greatest of gods," made 
out of the armor taken from the Samnites. The Romans were a very religious people. 
The deities that we now read of as 
belonging to Roman mythology 
were their gods; to them they went 
for counsel and auguries, to whom 
they returned with trophies and 
rich booty as thanksgiving or peace 
offerings ; they were believed to take 
on mortal form in aiding their 
favorite causes; but, though many of them were 
believed to have been mortals once, they were 
far above the people of earth as deities. So 
the Capitoline Hill was highly reverenced and 
strictly devoted to temples and matters of the 
saered Roman state, which was as holy as the 
gods. Beneath the perpendicular brow of this 
hill was the Forum Romanum, a long, rather 
narrow open space stretching way to the south- 
east, gradually decreasing in width to the ridge 
over six hundred feet away that is called the 
Velia, and which connects the Palatine Hill 
with the Esquiline, and where in the early part 
of the Christian Era the triumphal arch of 
Titus was set to commemorate the taking of 
Jerusalem. A forum in Rome was an open 
space for public meetings. The first meaning of 
the word was "open place," but after the 
Romans gave it to the city squares they set 
apart for markets and courts of justice, it came 
to have about the meaning of business center, 
or exchange. There were several such places 
in Rome, but this was the only one that was 
called " the Forum," without any other name to 

distinguish it. This was the center of Rome in its glory, and the core of its life when 
it contained two million people. 

At the foot of the Capitol, where it measured nearly two hundred feel across, stood 




AUGl'S'ITS. 



14 Cities of the Ancient World. 

the magnificent triumphal arch of Septimius Severus. In the days of the Roman Repub- 
lic (which lasted during nearly five hundred years before the birth of Christ), and of the 
Empire (which followed and lasted about the same time), for something like a thousand 
years from 500 b.c. to 500 a. d., when Rome fell and the Middle Ages began, the Eternal 
City was continually being built and rebuilt with monuments of honor. One of the 
chief among these was the Arch of Septimius Severus, erected by the Senate in 205 a.d. 
It was placed in one of the finest spots in the great city, and reared its grand arches in 
elegant proportions at the head of the Forum, and the foot of the Capitol; upon its 
faces bas-reliefs depicted the victories of Severus in the east, his entry into Babylon, 
and the tower of the temple of Belus, while legends read to his renown and that of his 
two sons, Caracalla and Geta. In one of the piers is a staircase leading to the top of 
the arch, upon which stood a car drawn by six horses abreast, and containing figures of 
Severus and his sons. The statue of Marcus Aurelius, now in the Capitol, stood in 
front of the arch, and on all sides there were columns, statues, temples and basilicas, for 
the Forum was the grandest as well as the liveliest part of the city. 

The Forum was established some time after the alliance of the cities of the Romans 
on the Palatine and the Sabines on the Saturnian, it being a convenient place be- 
tween the two hills where the colonies could meet on neutral ground; it was then 
surrounded by marshes with the Curtain Lake in the midst of the valley. When 
the city became entirely united the ground was drained, paved, regularly laid out and 
bounded by broad streets. For about four hundred feet from the foot of the Capi- 
toline Hill the great oblong was the Forum proper, while the remaining length of 
two hundred feet, gradually diminishing in width, was occupied by the Comitium. 
Here the assemblies of the Senate were held and the destinies of the world dis- 
cussed; here the great and the lowly met every day, and trivial matters as well as 
great were talked over and settled. It was adorned with the most beautiful monu- 
ments and surrounded by the finest streets in the city. A two-storied portico 
encompassed it, in which shops or tabemce occupied the first floor; and along its 
sides basilicas and temples were raised one after another. In the Comitium the twelve 
tables of the Romans, which are considered the foundation of all law, were hung up, 
and the fasti alsOj written on white tables, informed the citizens when the law-courts 
were open. 

On the right or lower side of the Forum there was a large and stately structure, 
known as the Basilica Julia, used partially as a law court and partly as an exchange. 
Here the judges of the empire, called Centumviri, held their courts, which were four in 
number; and on its roof the mad Caligula used to stand and throw money into the 
Forum for the pleasure of seeing the people scramble after it. At the corner of the 
basilica the Arch of Tiberius is believed to have stood. Beyond this site was the mag- 
nificent and very ancient temple of Castor and Pollux, where costly sacrifices were 



Rome. 



>7 



offered on the ides — the 15th — of July. This was the anniversary of the battle of Lake 
Regius, and after the rites were performed the Roman knights, richly clothed, crowned 
with olive, and bearing their trophies, rode by the temple in military procession. 

Opposite the Basilica Julia, the center of the Forum was marked — and is still — by 
the Column of Phocas. It was taken from some temple or basilica, and set on a huge 
pyramid-shaped base of white marble, and surmounted by a gilt bronze statue of Phocas. 
The upper side of the great open city square was skirted by the famous Via Sacra, 
which was not built up on the side of the Forum, but was lined with silversmiths' shops; 
opposite, and beyond them, were the " new shops," where Virginia was stabbed by her 
father with a butcher's knife, which he seized from one of the stalls, and plunged into 
her breast, as " the only way to keep her free " from the " tyrant Marcus." Further 
on was the famous Curia, or Senate House. This great magnificent public hall was 
capable of holding six hundred senators. There was no tribune to which the speakers 
mounted and faced their audience while they talked; each speaker rose in turn and 
spoke in his place, while the fate of the world hung in the balance. Nearly opposite 
the Senate House was the line between the Forum and the Comitium, upon which stood 
the Rostra, or open-air platform, from which the Roman orators addressed the vast 
crowds that gathered at the out-door public assemblies, the Plebeians in the Forum, the 
Patricians in the Comitium. These were the two great parties that belonged to the body 
politic of the early Roman nation. 

The Patricians were probably descendants of the original citizens of the Latins, 
Sabines, and Etruscans, first united in the city of Rome; the Plebeians, the descendants 
of those afterward admitted, were regarded as a much inferior race. But Servius 
Tullius, " the best and wisest of all the kings of Rome," skillfully bought about a recon- 
ciliation, and opened to this " common class," which was fast growing in size and wealth, 
the rights of full citizenship. He gave them laws and liberties, so that they might not 
become jealous of the Patricians — the ruling body, members of the people — and cause 
trouble. So he created a new assembly of a military form, which was open to all citi- 
zens, while the Patricians, or Assembly of the Curiae, which had long been the only body 
with any votes, remained the same. Servius Tullius was a great builder as well as 
statesman; he enlarged the boundaries set by Romulus, and the new Pomoerium included 
four of the city tribes, as the departments of Rome, like our townships, were called; these 
were on the Palatine, the Quirinal, the Ccelian and its valleys, and on the Esquiline and 
the Viminal Hills. TheCapitoline, or Saturnian Hill, was in itself sacred to military and 
religious purposes, and the Aventine, while belonging to the city, was never included 
within the sacred limits of the Pomoerium, but was used for the temple of Diana, the 
great Latin goddess. Servius built this temple because he wished to form an enduring 
alliance with the whole Latin nation. After this the Aventine was used for many sacri- 
fices and festivals, which belonged to the national customs of both Latium and Rom . 
2 



1 8 Cities of the Ancient World. 

These were the precincts within the walls, but without there were many more tribes, or 
townships, directly under the city government. Part of the public duties of the Assem- 
bly, which gathered in the Comitium of the Forum Romanum, was to elect the king, for 
early Rome was a monarchy, but not a hereditary monarchy, in which the throne is 
occupied by one after another of a royal family. The rule was to choose the king, who 
was assisted in his government by a senate. This body lasted long after the kingdom 
was succeeded by a Republic, but in the monarchical times it consisted of about three 
hundred members chosen from the Patricians. 

The great street of the Forum, and the most famous in Rome, was the Via Sacra. 
This formed its upper boundaries and small end of the Forum, and extended the whole 
length of the oblong, from the beginning of the Comitium to the foot of the Capitoline 
Hill. Here it met the famous slope of the Capitol, which led by a steep ascent to the 
sacred summit. When a general went up to offer thanksgiving to Jupiter it was through 
the Via Sacra that the pageant passed. The procession came down from the Velian 
ridge, in to the Forum, passing through the eager crowd that lined the street, and up 
-over its smooth pavement, past the temples and shops on the upper side and the open 
stretch of the Forum on the other hand, to the foot of the hill, then passing beneath the 
triumphal arch of Severus (after 205 a.d.), wound its way up to the great temple on the 
Tarpeian Hill. 

The highest reward that could be given to a Roman commander was a triumphal 
entrance into the city. As soon as the privilege was granted the Senate pro- 
Tided for the expenses; streets and squares through which the procession was to 
march were adorned with garlands and gay hangings. Temples were opened, and 
incense burned on the altars ; temporary stands were built to accommodate spectators, who 
gathered in vast throngs along the line of march. The commander, in the meantime, 
usually collected his troops outside the city gates; although sometimes — but rarely — 
the imperium within the walls was granted a victor during his triumph. At the Gate of 
Triumph the commander was met by the Senate, the city magistrates, a great body 
of citizens, who took the lead in the march, and lictors — attendants of the magistrates 
— in their official dress, and carrying their fasces or bundle of rods, as symbols of their 
office. As the eager, fantastic crowds fell back, or gazed from their temporary seats, 
shouting lo triumphe! the stately procession moved on, the city dignitaries followed by 
tibicines, or flute-players, celebrating the occasion with their piping reed-instruments, 
crowned soldiers bearing the booty on the points of long lances or on portable stands. 
This filled the people with intense excitement. They shouted with delight at the armor 
and the standards arranged as trophies, at the models of the cities and the ships taken 
from the enemy, or the pictures of battles, the great tablets inscribed with the deeds of 
the victor. Statues personifying the rivers and towns of the conquered country were 
borne aloft, and treasures of art, valuable plate and vases, silver and gold coins, and 



Rome. 1 9 

products of the newly acquired lands. Fettered kings, princes and nobles followed, 
who, after they had done their part in this glorification of their enemy, were withdrawn 
at the foot of the hill, and cast into the Mammertine Prison, whose mouth was open for 
them at the foot of the sacred hill. After this sorrowful company has passed the jeers 
and heartless cries of the Roman populace, come a body of priests, attending the gilt- 
horned and garlanded oxen for the sacrifice, while after them, in the place of honor, 
preceded by singers, musicians, and jesters in light, fantastic dress and showy orna- 
ments, rolls the triumphal chariot, drawn by four magnificent horses abreast. In the 
chariot stood the victor, the object of the triumph, the idol of the multitude. The 
shouts resounded, unbounded were the tokens of admiration showered upon the victor. 
He was dressed in the toga picta and the tunica palmata, taken for the occasion from 
the statue of Jupiter in the Capitoline Temple, and the eagle-crowned ivory scepter of 
victory was in his hand. Behind him stood a public servant holding the triumphal crown 
over his head. In the rear marched the army. At the Capitol the " triumphator " 
deposited his crown in the lap of Jupiter, and made the usual sacrifices of a swine, a 
sheep, and a bull, after which a festive meal was held. With this the day of triumph 
and rejoicing closed. 

When the ancient Romans did anything, or wanted anything; whenever they planned, 
succeeded or failed, their first thoughts turned toward their deities, and this is why the 
great pageants celebrating bloody victories and conquests of other nations wended their 
way to the temples, and why the victorious generals, who were far from what we call 
religious, would first seek the shrine of some deity to offer sacrifices or consult oracles. 
The word religion comes from the Romans, and means obligation, a binding poiver, and 
the religion of the Romans was a feeling of constraint, and their worship a business-like 
performance prompted by ambition for fame, wealth, and other most worldly gratifica- 
tions. They worshiped Peace, Valor; had altars to Plague, Hunger, Fear; and made 
offerings to a multitude of gods and goddesses which they believed either represented 
or presided over every element of mind or nature. They prayed to these gods for help, 
and made solemn vows to them when in trouble or difficulties, which were carried out 
with fidelity. Nearly all of the hundreds of temples scattered through Rome were built 
in the keeping of vows, and some of the noblest statues in the world were executed 
from the same motive. They had great anxiety to know the gods'will, and this they 
wanted in the most direct way; so they practiced what is known as the augural science, 
and read the answers to their prayers by signs in the sky, as by a flight of birds, or the 
flashes of lightning. Augurs were a class of priests, who formed one of the most im- 
portant scientific colleges amongst the Romans. It was common for all people t<> con- 
sult the augurs, and representatives of the State were compelled to seek their interpre- 
tation of the divine will on all important occasions. A special place in the temple was 
reserved for these observations, and called the tcmplum; it was divided bytwo lines into 



20 Cities of the Ancient World. 

four squares, and the heavenly signs were determined as lucky or unlucky, according 
to the position in which they were seen in these squares. 

A street running north-eastward from the Forum led through the Subura, or popu- 
lous quarter covering the low ground between the Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal Hills; 
and beyond reached to the Carinse, which lay on the edge of the Esquiline next to the 
Velia, which was afterward the most fashionable part of Rome. On the southern side 
of the Forum another street* ran out by which the people went from the great Via 
Sacra, the upper boundary of the Forum, to the great ox or cattle market, which ex- 
tended below the Capitoline, Palatine, and Aventine along the Tiber. There were two 
connecting roads between these fora, one was the Tuscany or Etrurian Way, which made 
a direct route, the other was the New Way or Nova Via, which led from the Via Sacra 
over the Palatine Hill, and entered the ox market at the Velabrum, at the foot of the 
Palatine. At the head of the Viscus Tuscus, or Etruscan way, on the Forum, was a bronze 
statue of Vertumnus, the god of Etruria and patron of the quarter through which the 
street led. There was a long trough-shaped fountain here, with groups of buffaloes and 
oxen, in representation of the Lake of Tuturna, the mythological sister of Turnus and 
the wife of Janus the Sabine war-god. This street was much used by the early Romans, 
as it led from the great Forum to the Circus Maximus. On the Via Nova, close under 
the western brow of the hill, was the famous Temple of Vesta, a circular colonnaded 
shrine, beautifully decorated, and sacred to the goddess who was believed to watch over 
the State. It was open during the day and closed at night, but the flame on her altar 
was never allowed to go out. On the first of March each year the fire was renewed, and 
on the ninth of June the vestalia special festivals were held in honor of the goddess; 
on the fifteenth of June the temple was cleared out and the dirt carried into a narrow lane 
behind the building. This was locked by a gate, and no one was allowed to enter it. 
The goddess was a virgin, and her fires were tended and ceremonies performed by young 
Roman priestesses called Vestal Virgins. There were four or six of these, who took vows 
to serve the goddess and remain virgins for thirty years. The order was very strict, and 
any priestess who broke her vows was buried alive. The vestal who allowed the fire to 
die down, was severely punished, as this was looked upon as an omen of the fall of the 
State. On the other hand, Vestal Virgins had many privileges not granted to other 
Roman maidens. They were held in greatest honor by all the people, and received 
respect from the lowest classes as well as the highest. They had some of the best seats 
kept for them in the theaters, were not under any home authority, and could marry if 
they chose after the end of their thirty years of service; but this was considered unlucky, 
so most of them spent the remainder of their lives in the service of the goddess. If the 
eye of a Vestal chanced to look upon a criminal, he was set free. The temple still stands 
near the banks of the Tiber; it is now the Christian church of Maria del Sole, and look- 
ing very much as it did in the ancient days of heathendom. Everything had a very prac- 




INTERIOR OF Till l\W TIH.oW 



Rome. 



tical aspect to the Romans, and while the enlightenment of the ages since those "grand 
old days of Rome " has made their religion seem a very blind one, it has but shown 
their practical character in a more favorable position; and we look now with admiration 
upon their wonderful monuments and magnificent public works. As their chief object 
was military power, the first great work of the early Romans was in roadways that should 
be solid at all times of the year for the march of legions of soldiers and quantities of 
heavy baggge. In order to carry them straight to the points aimed at, marshes and 
hollows were filled up, or spanned by viaducts; 
mountains were tunneled, streams were bridged; 
no labor, time, nor money was spared to ex- 
tend safe roads in every direction through the 
Roman dominions, connecting conquered prov- 
inces with the heart of the State. They threaded 
the Campagna, and intersected the city. The 
roads were either strewn with gravel or paved 
with solid stones, with blocks of a softer common 
tufa for the raised pavements for foot passen- 
gers. The middle of the road was generally 
raised a little so as to make the rain-water flow 
off; small outlets for the water were made at 
short distances, and larger passages or archways 
lay under the road. The first and finest of these 
roads was the Appian Way, called the "queen 
of roads." It was begun by Appius Claudius; 
when the struggle with the Samnites was at its 
height it extended direct to Capua, and later 
further on to Brundusium, the port of embarka- 
tion for Greece on the lower Adriatic. Its fine 
smooth pavements stretched in a solid level 
over the Pontine marshes, along the precipitous 
country from Albano to the valley of Ariccia, on 
an embankment faced with freestone, guarded by 
massive balustrades and furnished with seats 
extending along both sides. 

These great blocks of stone laid in the paving of this road still remain closely 
fitted together after all the storms of change and destruction that have swept over the 
city during two thousand years. Many a victorious general has marched over them in 
triumph at the head of his forces; many a Roman crowd in festivity or in fear has 
thronged the thoroughfare by night or day; but it is not so famous for any of these as 




JULIUS CAESAR. 



24 Cities of the Ancient World. 

for the tread of that teacher and saint, Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, who, fearless 
of persecution and death, entered the seat of idolatry to preach the Gospel to its people. 
The Via Appia entered ancient Rome through the Capuan Gate, and opened upon the 
valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills where the Circus Maximus stood. This 
" Largest Circus," as it was called in comparison to all others, is said to have been built 
by King Tarquinius Priscus, who arranged the seats of the people according to their divi- 
sion into thirty sections; but it was re-arranged and enlarged time after time by those who 
came after him; it was used after the fall of the kingdom by the Republic; Julius Caesar 
rebuilt it, and in the days of the Empire 1 it was kept in splendor till after the death of 
Constantine. The great oval was nearly half a mile long and nine hundred feet broad; 
in its podium half a million of people could sit and look at the chariot races and foot 
races, for which men and horses were constantly trained. A spina or back-bone, of 
narrow gardens, fountains and statuary, ran down the center of the course, at the end of 
which was a triumphal arch. Arcades around the top of the seat tiers were filled with 
jugglers and mountebanks, and stalls for eating, gaming, and carousing. 

Above the Circus Maximus lay the ox market, which after the Forum was the great 
business square, or open place of the city. It occupied a long, low strip of ground along 
the Tiber, but protected from the rising of the river by a quay and drained by the 
famous sewer known as the Cloaca Maxima, or great drain, whose mighty arch of 
masonry and stone is still one of the sights of the Tiber. In earlier times the river 
often overflowed the whole valley between the Palatine and the Capitoline, the water 
sometimes even reaching to the base of the Quirinal. Willows and rushes then covered 
the ground, so that one could not pass over except barefooted; there was a ferry to row 
passengers across, to the foot of the Palatine, and it was from these boats that went from 
one hill to another that the name of Velabrum was given to that part of the ox market 
beneath the Palatine. In the center of the Forum Boarium, a great bull of brass still 
stands, which was placed here long ago, and adjacent to it Servius Tullius raised a Tem- 
ple to Fortune, and another to the Sabine god Matuta. 

Pompey, also, chose a site here for a Temple of Hercules, and after some great vic- 
tories in Spain, the first two triumphal arches were raised here in honor of Stertinius. 

The Arch of Janus, the Sabine god, still stands with its four equal sides and arches 
turned to the four points of the compass, and its forty-eight niches for statuary. It 
served as a great portico where the Romans were sheltered from sun and rain while 
discussing the news of the city or matters of business, and where the men whose business 
was connected with the market carried on their traffic. 

Above the site of the ox market stood the theater of Marcellus. It was a custom 
with the ancients to choose a site for a theater, or several of them, as soon as they laid 
out a market or public square, for the people demanded a place to witness the dramas 
on the feast days of the immortal gods. At first the theaters were made of wood, so 



Rome. 25 

as to be taken down as soon as the performances were over; but in the days of the 
Republic they were made more substantial and of costly materials. One of the finest 
of these was built by Augustus, and called by him the Theater of Marcellus, after the 
emperor's nephew. It consisted of a great half circle raised in two stories of arcades, 
surmounted by a massive pilastered wall, in much the same style as the Colosseum. The 
semicircle was girdled by corridors and filled with tiers of seats, numbering thirty 
thousand altogether. On the roof of the arcade ropes were fastened by means of which 
a canvas was stretched across the great open top to protect the spectators from the sun. 
In front of the semicircle lay the stage, with various apartments, and the ends and 
back of the long broad open stretch where many actors played at once. 

About opposite the Theater of Marcellus the Tiber divided for a little way to em- 
brace an island. The ancients called it the /so/a Tibcrina, and devoted it entirely, or 
almost so, to sacred purposes. At one time it was cut in the form of a ship, with 
prow and stern; its sides were coated with strong masonry, so that it stood in the stream 
like some giant vessel. There were three great temples built upon it, one to Esculapius, 
one to Jupiter, and one to Faunus; there was also an altar raised here to the Sabine 
god Semo-Sancus. The island was reached by a bridge that crossed it, and reached 
from the main shore above to that below. In imperial times the island had another 
aspect; the site of temples and shrines being used for a prison, or as a neglected spot 
where sick slaves were left to die, the cruel Claudius promising them freedom if they 
recovered. 

The "good Father Tiber " is three hundred feet wide in the city, and from here, 
on errands of commere and warfare, ships went back and forth to the Mediterranean 
Sea in great numbers, and along the banks stretching far away over the Campagna there 
were palaces, villas, villages and cities, with gardens and groves, monuments and statues, 
traversed by the arcades of aqueducts, and all connected and continuous, as if a single 
city stretched from the Seven Hills to the sea, to the mouth of the Tiber, there crowded 
with ships, yard-arm to yard-arm, bearing the wealth of the world. To the great city 
came the richness of the earth; Britain and Spain sent metals, from China came silks, 
amber from the Baltic, gems from India, spices and perfumes from Arabia, woven 
fabrics from Babylonia, and the unrivaled works of art from Greece. All that the 
world could produce of things beautiful, rare or precious, its choicest dainties, 
were brought to Rome. They were landed at the quay of the ox market, or brought 
in burdens along the well-built roads. The cargoes for Rome were landed at 
Ostia, which was situated at the mouth of the Tiber. It had one of the grandest 
harbors ever built, where the imports from many countries were brought to be shipped 
to Rome and various parts of the Roman domains. 

The first bridges that crossed the river at Rome were looked upon as sort of religious 
monuments, and an order of priests called Pontifices — bridge makers -took care of 



26 Cities of the Ancient World. 

them. The name Pontifex Maximus, now the title of the pope, was given by the ancients 
to the high priest of the pontifices. The oldest bridge built in Rome was the Pons 
Sublicius, which Horatius kept " in the brave old days of old " against the Etruscan army 
of Lars Porsena. The bridge led from the city to the Janiculum, a hill upon whose 
crest a bulwark against the Etrurians stood. There is a tradition that in earliest times 
Janus, the sun god, founded a city on this hill from which the name of Janiculum has 
come. Afterward there was an altar raised here to Fons, the son of Janus. Janus 
Quirinus was a god of war, whose temple was closed in times of peace, so that the spirit 
of war might not go forth; and for the other reason that it was not then necessary to 
offer sacrifices to him. This site, held sacred to the god of war, was called by the 
Romans, "the key of Etruria," and by the Etrurians "the key of Rome," and Janus 
was represented with a key in his hand. From here Tarquinius Priscus had his first 
view of the city over which he came to reign, and here the eagle, henceforth the emblem 
of Roman power, replaced upon his head the cap which it had snatched away as he was 
riding in his chariot. Over this eminence also came Lars Porsena and his Etrurian 
band, winding their way in magnificent procession toward the Pons Sublicius, so nobly 
defended by Horatius. Near the foot of the hill Julius Caesar had his famous gardens,, 
and on its summit the emperor Galba was buried, and the remains of the first Sabine king, 
Numa Pompilius, are also said to have been placed. 

The Romans were the greatest bridge builders of the world; they combined wood 
and masonry in splendid long-lasting structures, and were the first to make arched 
bridges. This plan they not only used to span the rushing waters of the yellow Tiber, 
but in building roads, aqueducts, and sewers. Nearly every country that fell under the 
sway of Roman power has still some mighty remains of their bridges or aqueducts, 
stretching miles of arcades over smooth plain or rough and hilly land, showing the great- 
ness of the Roman skill in engineering. Among the most wonderful of these works is 
the Great Drain, or Cloaca Maxima, whose noble arch may still be seen near the river. 
It is a semicircular vault, measuring nearly fourteen feet in diameter^ and consisting 
of three concentric arches, each made of huge blocks of hard volcanic stone, like the 
masonry which forms the wall where it enters the river. The workmanship of this drain 
is so fine that now, though the stones are kept in their place simply by their own weight, 
without mortar or cement, not one displaced block has been found, and a knife blade 
can scarcely be put in between the joints. This is but the mouth of the vast sewerage 
system of the Tarquins, which by a net-work of underground canals drains the marshy 
lands between the hills and collects the city waste and pours it all into the Great Drain as 
perfectly now probably as it did two thousand five hundred years ago. It was due 
to this nobly planned system that the low-lying parts of the city, especially those along 
the river, existed at all, for the Tiber was then, as now, a broad and rapid stream given 
to great inundations. 



Rome. 



29 



In the time of the emperors, while the Forum Boarium and the Circus Maximus 
were still standing, the Palatine Hill above them was covered with so many and such 
magnificent mansions that from it every nation of Europe calls its most beautiful dwell- 
ings by the name of palaces. It was — and still stands — the loveliest and most inter- 
esting spot in Rome. The most sumptuous buildings ever raised in Europe stood 
here, and some of the most thrilling events in ancient history transpired on this grand 
old hill. 

Here stood the gorgeous Palace of the Caesars, which stretched away till it covered 
three hills, and included an area of three and a half miles. The walls, although strong 
as a fortress, were decorated with the finest of sculptures and paintings the world pro- 
duced. Chambers, arcades and majestic columns 
were faced with marbles, white as snow or veined 
with purple and gold, and embellished with 
costly gems and metals. It contained all the 
luxuries and conveniences imaginable. The 
furniture was of ivory, sandal wood, cedar, and 
rosewood, ornamented with jewels and uphol- 
stered with rich satins, brocades, and the finest 
fabrics that looms could produce or ship bring in. 
Nothing can now picture the beauty of this vast 
pile, or the magnificence and luxury of the 
wooded parks, gardens and terraces, where trees, 
plants, and flowers grew in profusion, where 
fountains of pure or scented water gushed forth 
at every turn, and statues of beautiful form or 
noble sentiment were grouped with perfect taste 
on terrace, in garden, and in shady arbor. 
Through these halls walked the cruel Nero; in 
one court Agrippina used to sit with her embroid- 
ery when she was not occupied in plotting or 
carrying out some dreadful deed; and through 
these corridors Nero ever felt himself haunted 

by her spirit after her murder, while in reality they were filled by friendly-seeming 
enemies of the hated emperor. Among these gardens the great philosopher - 
walked and studied, and on the terrace that lay in front of the palace Nero, surrounded 
by his court, watched the Christians burn like torches on a row of poles, set up for his 
human fireworks. The gorgeous pile was called the Golden House, it was the mosl 
splendid thing of its kind that has ever been known. Its wonders were celebrated 
abroad, by Roman travelers, by foreign visitors, and in the literature of the I 




NERO- 



3<d Cities of the Ancient World. 

" The Palatine, proud Rome's imperial seat, 
(An awful pile) stands venerably great; 
Thither the kingdoms and the nations come 
In supplicating crowds to learn their doom: 
****** 

Inferior temples rise on either hand, 
And on the borders of the palace stand, 
While o'er the rest her head she proudly rears, 
And lodg'd amidst her guardian gods appears." 

' The palace extended by means of connecting apartments to the Esquiline. A court 
in front, surrounded by a triple colonnade, was a mile long, faced in rich marbles, paved 
with mosaics, and contained a great statue of the emperor. Other courts were occupied 
by gardens, vineyards, meadows, and woods inhabited by tame and ferocious animals, 
or with large ponds, like lakes, with rows of beautiful and unique houses on their banks. 
The walls of the rooms were covered with gold, jewels, and pearls; the ivory with which 
the ceilings of the dining halls was inlaid was made to slide back, so as to admit a rain 
of roses or fragrant waters on the heads of the carousers. At these old Roman banquets 
the long table in the center of the hall was spread with every luxury the world was known 
to produce. The choicest dainties of fish and fowl, fruit and spice, were heaped upon 
the rich and jeweled service with which the table was set. Meat and fish were put on 
small or large flat dishes with raised edges. They were made of metals and beautifully 
chiseled, and some clay dishes of the same fashion which were very costly. The drink- 
ing vessels were also of elegant form, of smootli surface, adorned with bas-reliefs, or 
sometimes covered with artistic designs wrought of the material itself or soldered on the 
surface. The Greek custom of adorning drinking vessels with precious stones, the luxu- 
rious Romans of imperial times carried to a sumptuous degree. Drinking was a very 
important part of Roman feasts; the wines were of many kinds, and generally mixed 
with water; but the water was used in such small quantities, or the wine in so great abun- 
dance, that any large feast, and particularly those of the gross Nero, usually ended in a 
drunken carouse. With their heads and limbs crowned with flowers, the topers reclined 
for hours round the table after the dishes had been removed. A master or king of the 
feast was chosen by a cast of the dice, and then glasses were drained in healths to per- 
sons present and absent, witty conversation was kept up, music was played and games 
of chance or betting were introduced to keep the company lively. Sometimes exhibitions 
of dancing were given in the hall, and small plays, or scenes representing carousals of 
the gods, battles, or whatever would excite the interest or please the fancy of the guests. 
Even fights of gladiators were given after the feast on some occasions. Finally, when 
the carousers were overcome with fatigue or liquor, they were borne away by their slaves 
or lay in stupor on their couches or upon the floor until morning. The table, sometimes 
square and at others round or crescent-shaped, was surrounded on three sides by low 



Rome, 



couches, while the fourth side was left open so that the slaves attending the banquet 

could reach the dishes and the banqueters. The space between the table and the couches 

was too narrow for a person to pass between, so the guests took their places from the 

outer side. Each couch was large enough for three people, who reclined their full length 

on the seats facing the table, and resting their left elbow upon a soft cushion. The right 

hand was left free for eating. There was a distinction between places upon the couches, 

which was always observed in seating the guests. The general order of meals among 

the ancient Romans was something like that of modern Italians. The breakfast was 

taken soon after rising, and was made up of bread, dipped in wine or flavored with salt, 

grapes, olives, cheese, milk, and eggs. At the 

"sixth hour," or in about the middle of the day, 

a more solid meal of both hot and cold food, a 

sort of luncheon, was taken; the dinner or chief 

meal, called the cena, was eaten at about the 

" ninth hour," between noon and sunset. This 

was with the wealthy a very elaborate repast, with 

many dishes of imported game, meat and fish, 

and rich entrees and side dishes of most skilled 

cooks. After the Roman conquests in Greece 

and Asia, the simple living of the Romans, when 

slaves and masters lived on the same fare, would 

no longer do; various kinds of meats were called 

for, and fish, delicately flavored, and salads and 

rare fruits were provided. The cooks were not 

hired in as they were wanted, according to the 

earlier custom, but were regularly attached to 

the household and employed in large numbers, 

with assistants and scullions, to prepare even the 

every-day meals. Many of the houses of the wealthiest citizens were provided with fish 

ponds, and the breeding and taming of fish was a favorite occupation. Snail preserves 

were kept, and farms for the care of poultry and birds and various kinds of animals for 

food were attached to many places, and cared for with great attention. 

The emperors who followed Nero improved and altered, or partially removed, his 
palace; and the Palatine Hill has also been the site of two other magnificent houses, one 
of the good emperor Augustus, and another of Pomitian. At this age Rome bore a much 
grander aspect than in the time of Servius Tullius, and the other kings. The govern- 
ment had so strengthened itself that the city of the Seven Hills had not only conquered 
all Italy, but Macedonia, Greece, Syria, Mesopotamia, Caul, Britain, and Egypt, and 
had itself become the center of the mightiest nation in the world; the most refined ami 




MACEN/ES, THE PATRON OK HORAC1 . 



32 Cities of the Ancient World. 

beautiful of all cities. All around lay magnificent buildings, palaces, and public squares, 
built with grand colonnades and faced with marble, porphyry and other rich materials, 
and adjoining were beautiful gardens and shaded walks with walls overtopped by trees. 
The wide and regular streets were paved with smoothly joined slabs of hewn stone and 
hard lava, which rested on solid foundations below; the sidewalks, too, were paved, and 
lined with handsome Roman houses, adorned with fountains and beautiful statues plun- 
dered from the Greeks. 

The narrow, irregular streets and badly-built houses which had grown without plan 
with the progress of the Roman kingdom, were transformed in the last century of the 
Republic. The conquerors of the world built palaces, circuses and theaters with the 
spoils of their enemies, so that in half a century more Rome contained many magnificent 
palaces and public buildings. The great fire of Nero's reign, following the vast im- 
provements of Augustus, cleared away the poor hovels and mean streets, in place of 
which Nero built a new city upon the hilly ground, with wide and well-planned streets, 
temples, forums and palaces of white and colored marbles from Numidia, Italy, Greece 
and Asia Minor, and porphyry from Egypt. What Nero began the other emperors con- 
tinued, and the Eternal City became the grandest and most beautiful sight in the world. 
Great aqueducts, carried on bold arches over valleys, chasms, roads and streams, the 
cold and clear waters of the far away mountains into the city to give health and comfort 
to all, and to still further beautify Rome by gushing out of handsome grottoes and 
fountains. These aqueducts supplied the baths, too, which were among the most im- 
portant public and private institutions of all classes. 

The thermce, or baths of the Romans, were among their finest and most extensive 
establishments. They included gardens and meeting halls, libraries, and museums, 
connected with the bathing apartments, which were most perfectly arranged for all varie- 
ties of hot, cold, and shower baths. All the bathrooms lay over a substructure or base- 
ment about two feet high, the ceiling of which rested on rows of pillars standing a foot 
and a half apart. The furnace and firing room lay in front of this, and occupied the 
center of the establishment. From here the heat went out through the basement and 
was carried in earthen or leaden pipes in the walls to the bath rooms. The cold, 
tepid, or hot water wanted for the baths came from three tanks lying above the furnace, 
and connected with each other by means of pipes. The bathrooms were over the base- 
ment, around the furnace, at different distances from it, according to their temperature. 
Tanks or tubs occupied the center of the chambers for hot baths and cold baths, while 
benches and chairs were ranged along the walls or stood in niches. A niche on the nar- 
row side of the hot bath was filled with a cold water tub, for a plunge after the hot bath. 
In the large public establishments a separate apartment was provided with all the fittings 
for a steam bath; and adjoining were special rooms for dressing, undressing, rubbing 
and oiling the body. These baths, built with great magnificence and most perfect 




THE BATHS OF CARACA1 LA. 



Komi 



35 



arrangement, were very numerous throughout the city. They were attached to private- 
houses, or stood by themselves in open squares, and were some of the grandest buildings 
of the time. The great baths of Titus were of the most rich and beautiful architecture, 
and so large that they covered nearly half of the plain of the Esquiline Hill, on the 
southwestern side. 

Near the earthworks of Servius the heights beyond the Quirinal and Viminal were 
crowned by another stately structure, built for baths by Diocletian, adjoining which were 
the lovely grounds of the Garden of Sallust; and in the Field of Mars and outside the 
line of the Servian Wall on the south, there were many others of great magnificence. 
The usual time of taking a bath was just before the cena, usually the eighth or ninth hour 
of the day. But the establishments were open during the greater part of the day, and 
sometimes at night also. The opening and closing was announced by a bell. Some of 
the baths were free; in others each visitor had first to pay an entrance fee. This was 
received by the janitor, and kept in a box, while the bather received a ticket which he 
handed to the bathing master. While Agrippa was in office he built a hundred and 
seventy bathing chambers, to which everybody, for a time, was admitted free; and on 
his death his magnificent private thermce were left to the public. After the bather was 
undressed he entered the room of the tepid bath, where he also received a dry rubbing; 
from here he took a hot bath in a grand, vaulted chamber, with its steaming reservoir 
in the center, and the flat cold-water tank in a side niche. He next went to the cold 
bath, where he plunged into cold water mixed with saffron and other scents. With this 
the water part of the bathing was over, the rubbing and anointing of the skin with oil 
followed. Through the entire process a slave with bather's outfit often accompanied his 
master, frequently anointing his skin from an oil bottle, removing the oil and perspiration 
from the surface with a scraper, and rubbing him with linen towels. After the bath the 
hair and skin received a final rubbing and anointing with costly perfumed ointment. 
Scented powders were strewn over the body, which was stretched out and rubbed with 
swan's down or purple sponges. The bather was then ready to go out into the gym- 
nastic grounds and take part in athletic games, to recline on the couches of the library, 
stroll through the shady walks among the fountains and sculptures, or join in the con- 
versations of any of the groups of men gathered in the portico for loungers; opportuni- 
ties for all of these were close at hand, and provided with the greatest of care and taste- 
in connection with the baths. Here a large part of the day was passed by the luxurious 
and wealthy men of imperial times. Nothing now stands to compare with the beauty 
and magnificence of these places. The baths of Caracallawerea mile in circumference, 
and large enough for sixteen hundred to bathe at once. Besides being built on the most 
perfect plan for their use, these baths were rich and magnificent in their mosaic ceilings, 
walls, costly marbles or frescoes, and unlimited numbers of line statues. The waters 
came fourteen miles by a special acqueduct, whose arches still stand upon the Campagna. 



36 



Cities of the Ancient World. 



St. George's Hall, in Liverpool, England, though less than one-fourth the size, is the 
most exact copy now to be seen of the baths. The hall, with the two courts at each end, 
are in size and design almost an exact copy of one. 

Between the baths of Titus and the Palatine, in a fine central location, lay the most 
famous building of Rome; an oval amphitheater, called the Coliseum. It was first 
known as the Flavian Amphitheater, but was, it is said, given the other name from a 
colossal statue of Nero standing near by. It was a colossus itself, wherein nearly ninety 




SECTION SHOWING THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE COLISEUM. 

thousand people were sometimes seated to see the cruel sports of the arena. It was 
built by the emperor Titus, who employed upon it six thousand Jews for ten years. 
When it was finished he dedicated it by the slaying of five thousand wild beasts and ten 
thousand captives at a great festival which lasted a hundred days. Six acres of ground 
■were covered by the enormous oval, which seated nearly one hundred thousand people 
in tiers around a dirt-covered arena open to the sky. A portico carried around the entire 
building was resplendent with gilded columns, and marble statues thronged the arcades. 
The inner portion of the Coliseum was as magnificent as Titus and all following emper- 



Rome. 3 7 

ors to Contantine the Great could make it. The podium — seat-galleries — was encrusted 
with costly marble; net-work of gilded bronze, supported by stakes and wheels of ivory, 
guarded the people from the wild animals; the spaces between the seats glittered with 
gold and gems; the awnings were of silk; marble tripods for burning perfumes, and 
fountains of fragrant water scattered delicious odors through the air and upon the people. 
A great system of underground passages lay beneath, through some of which the fierce 
animals were led out to the center; others were conduits for water, by which the whole 
arena was sometimes flooded, making a great lake, where Roman galleys sailed, and 
naval battles were fought with all the fury of a conflict between actual enemies, to the 
delight of the Roman emperor and people, who shouted applause when blood flowed 
over the decks and stained the waters below. There were broad roads leading to the 
Colosseum, and toward the northwest it was but a short distance from the Forum. The 
Temple of Rome stood at the right hand on the way, and beyond it the arch of Titus 
commemorated that good emperor's conquests in Judea; a little further along on the 
upper side of the Comitium of earlier days, stood the Temple of Constantine on the Via 
Sacra, above which the fora and the temples of the emperors Trajan, Augustus, and 
Vespasian extended one after another along the eastern side of the Capitoline Hill. 

When the Aurelian Wall was built the Campus Martius, lying in the bend of the river, 
was enclosed within the city boundaries, for here some of the finest of the new buildings 
had sprung up. The Campus was originally the field for military drill, and the meet- 
ings of the great masses of the people under the rule of the early kings and the Repub- 
lic. Gradually, as the city grew beyond the old walls, it became somewhat built up; 
until in later times only the large irregular triangle-shaped part lying in the bend of the 
river was reserved. This part was a great place for gymnastic exercises, and military re- 
views and great open-air assemblies, while the remainder was occupied by public buildings, 
temples, with stately colonnades enclosing an open space about them, baths, theaters and 
circuses. Here the mighty consuls of Rome, the generals and citizens who have left nanus 
great in history, gathered in the midst of a vast concourse to witness the sports, review 
the troops, or receive the congratulations of the multitude upon their successful con- 
quests in other lands. One of the chief places among these latter buildings was the 
Pantheon, or " temple to all gods." It was devoted especially to Jupiter or to Mars ami 
Venus, and after them to all deities. It was built by Agrippa, the friend of Augustus, 
connected with his wonderful Thermas and dedicated to the gods. The Pantheon still 
stands in the midst of the modern city, and consists of two parts, the oblong or square- 
shaped portico, and the round edifice or the temple itself. A flight of steps led up to 
the portico, which is over a hundred feet long and nearly fifty deep; it is supported by 
sixteen lofty columns of Oriental granite, grouped so as to form three naves. The 



38 Cities of the Ancient World. 

center nave leads to the great brass doors at the entrance to the temple, on either side 
of which colossal statues of Augustus and Agrippa stood in niches. The great round 
edifice is divided into three sections or stories by handsome cornices, the second and 
the highest being each broken by large arches with smaller ones between. Above, the 
cupola begins in seven mighty steps, and rises in a magnificent dome, whose height is 
equal to the diameter of the great round temple beneath it. This is so perfect in shape 
that the domes of some of the greatest buildings since erected have been copied from 
it; among them are St. Peter's of modern Rome, situated across the river and St. 
Sophia's at Constantinople. The interior of the mighty rotunda, nearly a hundred and 
fifty feet in diameter, is surrounded by seven apertures beside the entrance, which are 
alternately square and circular niches. The tiers of the inside walls correspond to those 
without; the lowest is adorned with columns and pilasters between and before the niches. 
Part of these are of a beautifully veined yellow marble, and part of them are of a differ- 
ent kind, skillfully colored to harmonize with the others. Above this story another stands, 
which was covered with plates of colored marble and crowned by a beautiful cornice 
which forms the base of the cupola. This is finished in five stripes, or rows of finely- 
worked squares, called "caskets." There are twenty-five in each row growing gradually 
smaller toward the top, in which there is a large round opening. The blue sky, seen 
through this hole, made a fine finish to the brilliant colors of the Pantheon decorations, 
and at the same time lighting the interior most perfectly. 

Adjoining the Pantheon and all around were broad streets, baths, great squares 
inclosed by colonnaded walls, in the center of which stood the long and peak-roofed 
temples and basilicas or halls, with their porticoes, arcades and rows of columns. Near 
by was the palace of Alexander Severus and his circus, the Odeum, the Arch of Tibe- 
rius, with the story of that emperor's victories told in bas-relief. This was one of the 
triumphal monuments that graced the Flaminian Road, the great northern highway 
through Italy, corresponding to the Appian Way on the south. Beneath the brow of Mount 
Pincius and the Quirnal Hill, on the western edge of Campus Martius, it extended in a 
stately avenue, spanned by triumphal arches, to the Forum and Arch of Trajan at the foot 
of the Capitoline Hill. Many palaces of the rich Roman nobles lined the way, with 
graceful overhanging balconies, from which, in imperial times, great men and beautiful 
women looked down upon military processions, triumphal entrances, and the brilliant 
scenes of the ancient carnival. This festival is said to have originated here in the cele- 
bration of the spring-time feast. The Via Flamitiia, the site of the Corso, where the 
modern carnivals are held, was then the scene of a magnificent pageant of emperor and 
nobles, of richly caparisoned horses drawing luxurious platforms on wheels, of all 
kinds of splendor, gayety and extravagant pleasure. 



Rome, 4 1 

Rome was now the capital of a vast empire with fully a million and a half of people, 
wealthy officers of the city and imperial government, freedmen and slaves. For pur- 
poses of police the whole city was divided into fourteen districts, containing two classes 
of dwellings. Those of the wealthier inhabitants were called domus or mansions, while 
the poorer people lived in detached apartments built in blocks called insula or islands. 
The mansions were built around an open court, which gave light and air to the apart- 
ments opening upon it. Sometimes the great houses belonging to the nobility were 
made up of many courts, each surrounded by rectangular buildings. The houses of the 
poor — a very large and wretched class in the magnificent city — were upon the same 
plan, they were usually six or more stories high, covering large blocks and occupied by 
many families, who lived chiefly on porridge and vegetables, such as cabbage, turnips, 
and radishes, leeks, garlic, onions, pulse, cucumbers, pumpkins, and melons. 

The court or atrium of a Roman house was the home-room, where the images of the 
family's gods were kept and where the women worked and the different members of the 
household met each other. From it passages or doorways led to the sleeping rooms and 
store rooms. Between the atrium and the vestibule, which fronted on the street, lay a 
broad paved passage, called the ostium. Sometimes, in the large houses the principal 
court behind the ostium was used as a reception room for the men who came to see the 
master on business; then the household gods — ox tutelary deities, as they are called — were 
removed to one of the courts further away from the vestibule, so that the family might 
be undisturbed. All parts of the house were usually decorated with statues, mouldings, 
bas-reliefs and frescoes. The floors were solidly and substantially laid with colored 
stones or marbles in handsome designs. The furniture consisted for the most part of 
benches, chairs, and couches; the seats sometimes had side-arms, but were without 
backs. The legs and cushions were most richly ornamented, and so were the tables, 
with wonderfully inlaid jewels, carving and mosaics. In day time the houses were 
lighted from a simple hole in the roof or in the side wall; glass was not used for window 
panes. Lamps were bowl-shaped, a nozzle sticking out in which lay the wick. Some- 
times nozzles projected all the way round the bowl, so that one lamp had many wicks 
and gave a circle of light. These, like the branching candelabra also used, were often 
very elegant with bronze and silver ornaments. In addition to the town house every 
Roman of importance had a country residence or villa, which was usually situated in the 
vicinity of Rome, in some fair spot on the Campagna or along the seaside. In ancient 
times the Campagna was fertile, green and beautiful, and was a delightful retre.it !'<>r all 
who could afford to leave the city during the heated months of summer and fall. They 
were built and furnished in much the same way as the dwellings in the city, hut covered 
a great deal more ground. It often happened that the Campagna or seaside residence 
was the favorite house of the family, and so they were, as a rule, more comfortable and 
luxurious. They were built with very handsome effect, domes and towers rising above 



42 



Cities of the Ancient World. 



stately colonnades, broad piazzas, balconies and shady recesses. Ivy-covered columns 
partially enclosed the courts, where running water flowed through marble channels or 
sprang from jets and fountains surrounded with flowers; shaded walks, paved with brill- 
iant-colored mosaics and overhung with vines, led from the villa to gardens beautifully 
laid out with flower-beds, where roses, violets, narcissuses, hyacinths and lilies perfumed 
the air and delighted the eyes. These were about all the flowers known to the ancient 
Romans, but their gardeners had skill in designing and made their small variety show to 




ROMAN GARDEN SCENE. 



fine advantage upon terraces and slopes, or long stretches of level ground. Smoothly 
cropped grassy swards were bordered by trimmed hedges, and beech and other trees 
and bushes were clipped and trained into fine growth and many fantastic shapes. There 
were dense natural groves, or carefully designed globes, pyramids, ships, and animals 
in luxuriant foliage. These were highly valued by the Roman citizen, who could not 
enjoy the pleasure even of a very small garden in connection with his town house, except 



Rome. 



at great expense, as every square foot of ground was of great value, and the street front- 
age was even limited by law. 

The Roman house was kept by the master's wife, who looked well to the ways of her 
household. She gave her mind mainly to her home 
and family, often controlling and directing hundreds 
of slaves. These bondmen and bondwomen were not 
only servants in waiting, but in almost all wealthy fam- 
ilies included mechanics and craftsmen of nearly every 
kind. There were a complete staff of architects, com- 
prising many men engaged in various branches of 
designing and building, tailors and hair-dressers, 
musicians and troops of mimics and jugglers. Physi- 
cians and surgeons were mostly slaves or freedmen, and 
the private secretary of the master of the house was 
often a slave; and from positions of trust and honor 
to the humblest service nearly every one of the many 
offices for the family in general and each member of it 
in particular were performed by a separate slave. 
Many were kept to carry sedan chairs, which was the 
usual mode of traveling about the end of the Repub- 
lic. In town, only senators and ladies were allowed 
to be carried in these little canopied and curtained con- 
veyances; but the litters — a frame with straps to sup- 
port a mattress and pillow — was in common use. 
These, too, were carried by strong slaves dressed in 
rich red liveries. There were public litters for hire 
in the streets, and every well-to-do household had at 
least one, with slaves to carry it. Slaves dressed in a 
tunic or short-skirted shirt. These were of coarse 
dark material if the men were laborers, while the 
higher household servants or attendants had more 
handsome material. After a slave had been given 
or had bought his liberty he put on the pileus — a 
close-fitting felt cap — the toga, or Roman mantle, 
wore a ring and shaved his beard. These were 

the signs of the freedmen, who were the principal tradesmen and handicraftsmen in 
the city. A free-born Roman felt that mechanics and trade, except commercial 
business on a large scale, were beneath him. Landed property, with rents bringing a 
large income, was the only worthy source of wealth to a Roman of good position in 




ROMAN AND 1 < " '■ \. 



44 



Cities of the Ancient World. 



society. Military or civil glory, to patronize sports, literature and art were his ambition; 
duty to his country was his watchword. In all these ambitions the Roman matron sym- 
pathized with her husband. She watched over the health, the training, and the educa- 
tion of her children, and many of the noble 
Roman matrons found time in the midst of all 
these cares to aid their husbands in their affairs 
beside. The matrons went out as they chose; 
there was no law or custom to prevent them from 
going on the street or to public entertainments, 
circuses, and festivals. The young ladies were 
called virgins, and were under the authority of 
their parents until they were married, unless 
they became priestesses to Vesta. 

The garb of the Romans was a dress laid on, 
not drawn on, as our clothes are. It consisted 
of two parts: the upper garment was the toga of 
the men, and the palla of the women; it was a 
long piece of goods, often of rich material, beauti- 
fully embroidered, and laid on like a cloak in 
ample folds. It was quite an art to arrange the 
toga or palla properly; the mass of folds were 
laid part in one direction and part in another, 
forming loops for the arms and a sort of pocket 
over the breast. The other garment was worn 
under this on the street, and without it in the 
house; it was called the tunica, and coming about 
to the knees, fitted the men closely; but the 
women wore it more loosely, and had it reach to 
the ground; sometimes it had sleeves and some- 
times not. This was the common garment for 
home and all ordinary occasions; the quality of 
the material showing the difference in the social 
position of the wearer. Men and women wore 
sandals when they went visiting, which were 
green, yellow, and black; but when men went 
out dressed in the toga they wore shoes. This 
outer cloak became less common after the Republic, and in the days of the Empire 
it was worn as gentlemen now wear their "dress suits," on very fashionable or 
important occasions. The women's garments were not made just like the men's, 




ROMAN MATRON. 



Rome. 



47 



although both had the same general design; the women wore more clothes than 
the men, and usually had them of richer materials, while the clasps and orna- 
ments worn by a noble lady sometimes were set with millions of dollars' worth of 
jewels. The luxury and elegance of dress, like that in living, in buildings and in 
everything else, reached its height during the Empire. The great emperor Augustus 
said with pride that he had found 
Rome a city of brick and left it a city 
of marble. The most magnificent 
palaces ever built were in his time, 
and he himself was chief builder. 
His noble mausoleum stood on the 
Via Flaminia toward the northern 
gate. Its lofty marble towers rose 
in three stages, each one smaller than 
that below it, making a terrace which 
was covered with earth and planted 
with cypresses. In these stages 
there were many chambers wherein 
row within row, and story upon story, 
the remains of members of the im- 
perial family were laid, with many 
thousands of their slaves and freed- 
men. In the center Augustus, the 
founder of the empire, lay, while his 
statue crowned the summit of the 
magnificent pile. 

Augustus was the first emperor; 
he came after and was appointed by 
Julius Caesar; after him the impe- 
rial rule lasted for several hundred 
years, and during the reign of the 
first twelve emperors the State rose 
steadily in strength till its will 
swayed all the known world; but its 
power was too great for the men who 

held the scepter, and among the wise ones were others who thought Rome could never 
fall, and so neglected their duty, that the good emperors were not able to redeem the 
evils; and Marcus Aurelius, who died in 1S0 A.D., was the last to see the Eternal City 
in her glory. Mean-minded, wicked rulers followed him, who lost great territories in 




CONST ANTINE THE GREAT. 



48 Cities of the Ancient World. 

other countries, and finally divided the empire, and beside the outside losses, weakened 
their power by civil wars, until Alaric the Goth, from Northern Europe, entered and 
sacked the city. After this, which was in the year 410 a.d., the empire was broken up 
into many countries, which are now the kingdoms and empires of modern Europe, Asia, 
and Africa. But, although this mighty State has never recovered its power, and the 
queenly city can never be restored in its grandeur, Rome is eternal. Out of the Roman 
Empire arose the modern state system of Europe, and the Roman language, law, and 
institutions are still, in changed forms, alive and active in the modern world. 

About sixteen miles from Rome, where the Tiber enters the old Tyrrhenian Sea, 
stood the celebrated port of Ostia. The harbor of this city was one of the finest ever 
built. It was not a natural bay, but out in the sea an artificial island and long semi- 
circular walls were built of massive stone. The harbor, which was altogether artificial, 
having been made by extending dams and walls far into the sea from the even shore line. 
The island, crowned with a lofty light-house, formed a fine breakwater in front of the large 
piers of the harbor, into which came great ships from Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa, loaded 
with corn for the Roman market. Ostia was built by Ancus Martius, who had three 
great pillars of chalk, mortar, and clay brought in an immense vessel, and sunk — with 
the ship — to form the foundation of the breakwater. Ostia had two harbors; the large 
outer port was built out into the sea, in the shape of a vast oval, with entrances on each 
side of the island; a somewhat smaller inside basin was made by digging out part of the 
shore, and protecting the banks thus made by freestone walls, which extended around 
it in the form of a five-sided figure, with a sixth side partly free of quays for an entrance. 
Fine stone-built canals connected the two harbors, and led from both of them to the 
Tiber, through which vessels passed out to the open sea. On the embankments stood 
store-houses, several stories high. They were built with large arched chambers and 
vaulted ceilings. For a long time this was the chief haven for Rome and the principal 
station of the Roman navy. It was a thriving and important town of itself, and had 
a noteworthy place among the settlement of Italy until about the time of the fall of the 
empire. The old town lay along the sea-shore and close to the outer harbor; but a new 
town opened up in the time of the emperor Claudius when the inner basin was made, 
and this was familiarly known as Partus, or the port of Rome. 

Second to Rome in wealth, in size, and the number of its people, was the marble- 
built city of Capua. It was the capital of Campagna, in the southern part of Italy, 
and was founded in about 800 B.C. by Etruscans, a very ancient race of Italy. Their 
country, Etruria, was inhabited by a civilized and cultivated people long before Rome 
was founded, and they were entirely different from the other inhabitants of ancient Italy, 
in their appearance, their religion, and their language. Under the rule of the Etruscans, 
Capua outrivaled almost every other city of Italy in wealth and prosperity. The 
people became very skillful in the arts, and were fond of recreation; they held a great 



Capua. 49 

many and most sumptuous festive entertainments, games, races, and dances. But these 
luxurious habits made the men weak and lazy; they became unfitted for war, and when 
their hardy neighbors came down on them they were unable to fight. So the Samnites 
finally conquered the city and took possession of it. Although this made a complete 
change of laws and rulers, it did not affect the prosperity of the city, which increased so 
much in wealth and prosperity that, in 343 B.C., the old historian Livy called it the 
greatest and most wealthy city of Italy. All this wealth and luxury, however, had the 
same effect upon the Samnite inhabitants that it had had upon the Etruscans; they, too, 
were conquered, after a series of wars, by the Romans, and the beautiful city came under 
a still more powerful rule. From this time it grew even more prosperous than ever; it 
continued to increase in opulence until, in 216 B.C., it was almost as grand as Rome 
and Carthage. It was in these happy, palmy days of Capua, that she was able to send 
out an army of thirty thousand foot soldiers and four thousand horsemen. When 
Carthaginian general Hannibal came to Italy to fight against Rome, Capua went over 
to his side, and his army had their winter quarters one year in the city. The time spent 
by the Carthaginians within the walls of Capua nearly ruined their discipline and warlike 
habits; for the city was so gay, and had such a continual round of amusements, that 
t'.ie soldiers almost forgot what they had come to Italy for. When the Romans finally 
defeated Hannibal they punished Capua severely for having revolted from them, and the 
city lost much of its dignity, being placed under very strict Roman rule, and having 
many of its privileges taken away. Nevertheless, the splendid streets and buildings 
remained, and the people were famous for their luxury and refinement. The city stood 
on a perfectly level plain, and was spread out over a wide extent of ground, with broad 
streets and low houses. Two of these streets or squares, called the Seplasiaand Albana, 
were particularly celebrated, and were the most frequented and busy in the city. In 
the Seplasia were hundreds of shops of the perfumers, a trade for which Capua was 
noted far and wide; it was also a great source of revenue, for Capuan perfumers sup- 
plied the whole empire of the West with their choicest odors and most costly scents. 
The aqueduct, built by Augustus Caesar, and named the Aqua Julia, was a splendid 
work, and the pride of the town for its magnificence as well as for its usefulness; the 
amphitheater, where the shows of gladiators were held, was also a superb structure, • 
of the finest of its kind in all Italy. This form of amusement was popular from the 
earliest times with the Capuans, and the city was celebrated throughout Italy ami the 
Mediterranean provinces for its exhibitions of savage sport. 

Gladiators were men who fought with each other or with wild animals for the enter- 
tainment of spectators. They were originally captives, slaves, or condemned criminals; 
but afterward free-born citizens, knights, senators, and even women fought in the arena, 
as it was called. Sometimes a slave, if he survived three years of fighting as a gladia- 
tor, was set free; but only the most skillful ones were not killed in the terrible cont( 
4 



50 Cities of the Ancient World. 

At one time there were five thousand of this class of men at Capua. They were taught 
the positions to be taken when falling or in dying, and a certain kind of food was given 
them to thicken their blood and cause them to die slowly; for the more agony a gladi- 
ator suffered, the more the people enjoyed the show. They were divided into many 
classes, according to the way in which they fought, and the weapons they used. Some 
of them were blindfolded; some fought in troops, others in chariots and on horseback. 
Sometimes they were in full armor; then again they only had short daggers for the com- 
bat; the retiarii were light armed gladiators, and fought by throwing a net over their 
antagonist, and then killing him with a three-pointed lance. If a combatant was con- 
quered, but not killed, his fate depended on the people looking on, who turned their 
thumbs down if they wished him to be spared. A man who had once been a gladiator 
was always regarded as disgraced, and if a noble, he could never resume his rank. 
This cruel sport grew to a terrible extent, and the people had an extravagant passion 
for it. There was once a contest which lasted one hundred and twenty-three days, in 
which ten thousand gladiators fought, and eleven thousand fierce animals were killed. 
Quite often the gladiators revolted against the harsh and cruel training they were made 
to undergo in preparation for the contests, and in 73 B.C. a very serious outbreak oc- 
curred. Spartacus, a Thracian by birth and originally a shepherd in his own country, 
was taken captive and trained in the school of gladiators at Capua. He persuaded 
about seventy of his fellow pupils to escape with him from the city, and to take refuge 
in the crater of Mount Vesuvius. An army of three thousand men was sent against him, 
l)Ut was defeated, and their weapons became the trophy of the victors. Then Spartacus 
proclaimed liberty to all slaves who should flee to him, and in a short time he collected 
a force of one hundred thousand men, a large part of them trained to fight, making a 
most formidable array. For a long time he was victorious over every army sent against 
him, but his followers began to quarrel among themselves and that put an end to his 
success. He perished in a final battle with the Roman general Crassus; sixty thousand 
of his men were killed, and six thousand prisoners were crucified in the Appian Way at 
Rome, which was a fine open thoroughfare between the two cities. 

On the north shore of a long arm of the Mediterranean, which in ancient and modern 
times has taken its name from the city, stood Tarentum,, one of the most celebrated 
and powerful places of Southern Italy. Tarentum was a Greek city, established by colo- 
nists from Sparta, in about 708 B.C. , at about the time of the founding of Rome. Though 
its land was not so fertile as that of some other cities of Italy, it was well suited for the 
growth of olives, and its pastures produced wool of the finest quality, while its port, or 
inner sea, as it was called, abounded in shell-fish of all descriptions. Among these the 
Murex, which produced the celebrated purple dye, was the most important and valuable. 
Rut Tarentum especially owed its rapid rise to wealth and power to its excellent port. 
This was not only land-locked and secure, but it was the only safe harbor of any extent 



Cumce. 5 1 

on the shores of the Tarentine Gulf, so Tarentum became the chief market for commerce 
of all this part of Italy. The city always had some of the institutions of the rigid Spar- 
tans, but many of the inhabitants, unlike the people of their mother country, neglected 
their gymnasia and strengthening drill, and sunk themselves in luxury and idleness; 
so they were unable to resist the attacks of the Romans, who, full of martial prowess, 
marched upon them, and finally became their masters. Nevertheless the Tarentines 
were warlike enough to support quite an army. They furnished not only a body of 
cavalry, but a large force of heavy-armed foot soldiers. These were called the Leucas- 
pids, from their white shields, and were especially formidable in battle. When the city 
fell into the hands of the Romans, they took some of its finest statues and works of art 
to the capitol, and also plundered the rich city of a vast quantity of gold and silver, in 
massive, richly wrought pieces. The general form of Tarentum was that of a triangle 
with the citadel at the apex. It had a splendid gymnasium, and a good-sized Agora, or 
market place, in which stood a colossal bronze statue of Jupiter, the largest in existence, 
next to that at Rhodes, which was one of the seven wonders of the world. Just outside 
the Agora was the Museum, a public building which was used for festivals and public ban- 
quets. Tarentum was celebrated for its pleasant climate and its fertile lands; it pro- 
duced delicious honey and fine, large olives, and its oils and wines were of the choicest 
quality. But the chief production of the city was its wool, which was better than that 
from any other part of Italy; nor was this entirely due to the natural advantages of the 
country, as the Tarentines bestowed the greatest care upon the keeping and improvement 
of their breed of sheep. The city was also noted for its horses; it supplied the Taren- 
tine cavalry ; which was for a long time famous throughout Italy and Greece. The ter- 
ritory abounded also in pears, figs, and chestnuts, while the shores of the gulf produced 
an abundance of shell-fish, which formed in ancient times a favorite article of food. 
The climate of Tarentum, though justly praised for its mildness, was generally reckoned 
soft and enervating, and was considered to some extent the cause of the luxurious and 
indolent habits of the people. The inhabitants in the fourth century B.C. devoted them- 
selves almost entirely to the pursuit of pleasure, and it is said that there were more an- 
nual festivals held than there are days of the year. With their habits of luxury the 
Tarentines combined the cultivation of the fine arts. The great beauty and variety of 
their coins is a proof of this, and ancient writers speak of the numbers of pictures, 
statues, and other works of art with which the city was adorned. Nor was literature 
neglected; in addition to Archytas, a philosopher celebrated for his mathematical dis- 
coveries, Aristoxenus, the great musician, and Rhinthon, a dramatic poet, were natives 
of Tarentum. It was from this city, too, that the Romans first learned the principles 
of the regular dramas. 

On the coast of Campania, in the southwest part of Italy, was Cumse, a place of 
great interest to us, not so much on account of the city itself nor the position it held 



52 



Cities of the Ancient World 



among other towns of importance of those days, but because it is where some of the 
fabulous events told in Virgil's famous book, called the yEneid, are said to have oc- 
curred. Virgil was the greatest of Roman poets, and his writings are among the finest 
Latin classics known to us. The date of the foundation of Cumae is unknown, but 
there is no doubt that it was very ancient, for it was in the height of its prosperity and 
power when Rome was but a new settlement. The Etruscans first subdued it, and finally it 

came under the power of the Romans and 
was made what was called a municipal town. 
Under the Roman Empire Cumas was noted 
for the manufacture of a particular kind of 
red earthenware. Its territory also produced 
excellent flax, which was especially adapted 
for the manufacture of nets, and the fertile 
vineyards on the plain around the city yield- 
ed a delicious and very famous wine. The 
abode of one of the Sibyls was at Cumae, and 
it is in connection with her that Virgil tells 
his story of the hero ./Eneas' descent into the 
lower regions. The Sibyls were supposed 
to be prophetic by the ancients; some old 
authors say there were four; others say 
there were ten of them. The most famous 
of all was the Cumsean Sibyl; according to 
an ancient legend she offered to sell to a 
certain king of Rome nine books, which he 
refused to buy. Burning three, she offered 
the remaining six for the same price that she 
had asked for the nine ; being refused again, 
she burned three more, and still demanded 
the same price for the remaining three. The 
king bought these, and the Sibyl vanished. 
They were the famous sibylline books, and 
were preserved in the temple of Jupiter 
on the Capitoline Hill at Rome, in the care 
of two officers; afterward there were ten officers, and finally fifteen, who alone, directed 
by the Senate, might look at the contents of the books. Counsel and help were sought 
from the Sibyls, under the belief that they were able to predict future events, to turn 
away misfortune, and to appease the gods. When the ships of the Trojans at last 
reached the shores of Italy, after their long voyage from Troy, while his companions 




VIRGIL. 



Cumce. 53 

were making their camp, yEneas went to the cave of the Sibyl. She told him all the 
trials and dangers he must pass through, and asked him, so the story goes, if he had 
any request to make. ^Eneas told her that he had been directed in a dream to go 
to the abode of the dead, where his father Anchises was, and get from him an account 
of his future fortunes, whether he would succeed in founding the great city he hoped to 
in Italy or not, and he asked the Sibyl to help him in the undertaking. She consented, 
and told ^Eneas to go into the forest and find a tree on which he would see a golden 
branch; he was to pluck this branch and carry it with him to the lower world as a guard 
against harm. yEneas obeyed her orders, procured the golden branch, and together 
they started upon their journey to the abode of the dead. Before the threshold of hell, 
they had to pass by fiends and monsters in every kind of hideous form and shape, and 
yEneas, very much frightened, drew his sword, and would have struck at them, but the 
Sibyl prevented him. Then they came to the river Cocytus or Styx, over which an old 
boatman named Charon carried the spirits of those who had died and were buried; the 
hosts of others who had remained unburied without the usual rites of the ancients, were 
not allowed to cross the stream, but wandered for a hundred years along its bank, after 
which they were taken over. yEneas and the Sibyl had some trouble in persuading Charon 
to ferry them across, but the sight of the golden branch made him take them on board 
his boat. On the opposite shore they were met by the three-headed dog Cerberus, who 
began to bark with his three throats at once. The Sibyl threw him a cake soaked with 
something to make him sleep, and while he greedily devoured it ^neas and his com- 
panion passed on, and went through the home of those who had died by their own hand. 
Then they entered the regions of sadness, where those people were who were not freed 
from pain by death itself, and finally they came into the abode of heroes who had fallen 
in battle. Here ^neas saw many of his friends who had been killed at the siege of 
Troy and elsewhere, and talked with them. He would have lingered long with his Tro- 
jan friends, but the Sibyl hurried him away to a place where there were two roads, one 
leading to Elysium, the home of the good, the other to Tartarus, the region of the 
condemned. ^E)neas looked down this path and saw all manner of punishments being 
inflicted. There were groups seated at tables loaded with dainties, while near by stood 
1 ury who snatched away the food from their lips as fast as they prepared to taste it. 
Others had huge rocks suspended over their heads, threatening to fall, keeping them in 
a state of constant alarm. One was there, fastened to a wheel which kept revolving, 
another had the task of rolling a large stone up to a hill-top, but when the summit was 
almost reached, the rock, pushed by some sudden force, always fell again to the toot pf 
the hill. There was another who stood in a pool, his chin level with the water, but when 
he tried to drink, the water rushed away, leaving the ground dry at his feet. Tall 
tries laden with fruit stooped their heads to him, pears, pomegranates, apples, and 
luscious figs; but when lie tried to seize them, winds whirled them out of his reach. 



54 Cities of the Ancient World. 

The Sibyl now warned ,-Eneas that it was time to turn from these awful scenes and 
seek the city of the blessed; so they journeyed on, and came into the Elysian fields, 
the groves where the happy resided. Here the air was purer and freer, and the "shades," 
or spirits of the dead, were enjoying themselves in various ways, some in sports on the 
green grass in games of strength or skill, others in dancing or singing. At last, among 
the countless multitudes, ^Eneas joyfully recognized Anchises. The father and son 
had a long conversation, Anchises pointed out to yEneas men of his race who were 
to be born, related to him the exploits they would perform in the world, and told him 
how the result would be the foundation of a Trojan city, from which the Roman power 
should rise, to be in time the ruler of the world. ./Eneas and the Sibyl then left Anchi- 
ses, and returned by some short cut, which the poet does not explain, to the upper 
world. Such was the story told of Cumse and the Sibyl who had her' cave there. Near 
the ruins of the ancient city her abode is still pointed out to the traveler. 

Crotona was one of the most celebrated Greek colonies in the southern part of Italy. 
It was founded by a body of Achaeans and Spartans about 710 B.C., and very soon 
became distinguished for its size, wealth, and power. Its name was derived, so the 
ancient legend said, from a person of the name of Croton, who gave a night's shelter 
to the god Hercules during his wanderings; but having been accidentally killed by him, 
he was buried on the spot which Hercules predicted would become the site of a mighty 
city. Crotona was believed by some of the ancients to have been the founder of the city, 
and particular worship was always paid to Hercules by the inhabitants. Not far from 
Crotona was Sybaris, and these two towns, founded about the same time, enjoying an 
equal amount of wealth and prosperity, became two of the most populous and powerful 
cities of that part of Italy. Crotona, however, was far less luxurious than its rival; its 
inhabitants devoted themselves particularly to athletic exercises, and became cele- 
brated for the number of prizes they carried off at the Olympic games and other contests. 
The city was famous for the healthfulness of its situation; one old legend said that the 
founder of Crotona when asked by a god what especial advantage he desired for it, replied 
that he chose health. So the situation was made particularly free from anything that would 
cause illness, and this is said to be the reason why the people excelled in the sports. 
For the same reason the young men and maidens of the city were distinguished for their 
remarkable personal beauty. Crotona had a medical school of great renown, and the 
physicians of the place were considered the best either of Greece or Italy. Among the 
athletes of the place, Milo was the most celebrated for his gigantic strength and power 
of body; he gained the victory in wrestling six years in succession at the public contests. 
He is said to have carried a four-year old heifer on his shoulders four times around the 
Olympic race-course, and then to have eaten the whole of it in one day. In 511 b.c. 
he was appointed to command an army against the Sybarites, and did wonders in the 
final battle, in which an army of one hundred thousand men from Crotona defeated three 



Mantua. 55 

hundred thousand from Sybaris. When he became an old man and was somewhat 
weakened by his age, he tried to tear apart with his hands a forest tree partially split by 
wood-cutters; he was caught and held fast by the closing of the crack, and was de- 
voured by wolves, being powerless to defend himself. Between 540 and 530 B.i . 
Pythagoras, the Greek philosopher, came to Crotona and taught his doctrines there with 
a great deal of success. He and his followers, mostly young men of the city, com- 
pletely changed the government for a time, but Pythagoras finally became unpopular 
and was banished, and many of his disciples were killed. Six miles out of the city was 
a temple of the goddess Juno or Hera, which was the most famous building of the kind 
in southern Italy. This temple became the scene of a great yearly gathering of all 
the Italian Greeks, at which a procession took place in honor of the goddess, to whom 
splendid offerings were made; and this festival was a favorite time for the inhabitants 
of the neighboring cities to show their magnificence. Around the temple itself was a 
large forest of pine-trees, enclosing within it rich pastures, on which the cattle belonging 
to the temple were allowed to feed unprotected and uninjured. Out of the money which 
the sale of these cattle produced a column of solid gold was built and set up in the 
sanctuary. 

Mantua was a very ancient city, founded by the Etruscans four hundred years 
before the building of Rome, in the porthern part of Italy, near the river Padus, or Po, 
as it is now called. Like most of the cities in Italy, it early came under the dominion 
of Rome, but its name rarely appears in history, and it is certain that it did not possess 
the importance in ancient times that it did in the middle ages and even now retains. It 
is, in fact, famous for only one thing: it was the birthplace of the great poet Virgil. 
Very little is known of this famous man. His father was the hired servant of a travel- 
ing merchant, by whom he was much thought of on account of his faithful service.-*. 
The merchant's regard must have been very strong, for he gave his daughter in marriage 
to Virgil's father, and with her was another gift; this was the charge of a small farm 
near Mantua, which he finally inherited, and left to his poet son when he died. Virgil 
was born at Andes, a small village, three miles distant from Mantua, but his home 
seems to have been in the latter place. His father gave him all the advantages of edu- 
cation he was able to, and the son was fond of study, so that he soon excelled in his 
knowledge of the literature both of his own country and of Greece. When Virgil was 
about thirty-three years of age he removed to Rome, where he became the friend of the 
emperor Augustus, who gave him enough money to enable him to live comfortablv ami 
devote his time to writing. While he was at work upon his great poem, the ./>/<•/,/, 
Augustus expressed a strong desire to hear parts. of it read, ami the poet read aloud 
the sixth book before the emperor and his sister Octavia. On hearing one par- 
ticularly pathetic passage of the poem, Octavia fainted, and on reviving n!k- on!. 
the reader to be rewarded with a certain amount of money for each line, so impre 



56 



Cities of the Ancient World. 



was she with the work. Virgil died in his fifty-first year, 19 B.C., and was buried at 
Naples. 

Arpinum was a very ancient and celebrated city of the Volscians, in the central part 
of Italy. It was a city of importance at a very early period, and during the Roman 
republic it was a flourishing town; but its chief celebrity was derived from its having 




CICERO. 

been the birthplace of two of the most illustrious men in Roman history, Caius Marius 
and Marcus Tullius Cicero. The writings of Cicero are full of allusions to his native 
place; he tells us that the inhabitants had many good qualities, although they were rustic 
and simple in their manners. Cicero's father left him an estate in the town, on the banks 
of the little river Fibrenus, where his favorite villa was situated, on an island surrounded 
by the waters of that beautiful stream. 



Ravetma. 



57 



Ravenna was in the northeast part of Italy, on or near the coast of the Adriatic Sea; 
it was a very important city in ancient times. Surrounded on all sides by marshes, lakes, 
or lagoons, it was a peculiarly situated city, something like Venice; it was built actually 
in the water, for its houses were raised on piles, and it was cut in all directions by 
canals, which were crossed either by bridges or ferries. The marshes were connected 
with the sea, so that the canals were scoured every day by the ebb and flow of the tides. 
It was strongly defended by nature, and occupied so secluded a position that prisoners 
were often brought here for confinement, and for the same reason many of the emperors 
made it their chosen place of residence. The presence of the court added greatly to the 
prosperity and splendor of the city; but in spite of fine public works it was not a pleasant 
place to live in on account of the lack of fresh water, the muddiness of the canals, the 
swarms of gnats, and the continual croaking of frogs. 



ASIA MINOR. 

THE great peninsula ot Western Asia, between the Euxine or Black Sea and the Medi- 
terranean, was known in ancient days as Asia Minor. The name, which means 
the smaller Asia, was given by the Greeks, who made it the seat of their civiliza- 
tion before they came to have their great dominions in the islands of the " Great Sea." 
From the times of Semiramis, the powerful Eastern conqueror, who lived about 2000 B.C. 
to the time of Osman, about 1300 a.d., the greatest events of the world occurred here. 
It was the chief battle-ground of the Medes and Persians with the Scythians, of the 
Greeks and Persians, of the Romans with Mithridates and the Parthians, of the 
Arabs, Seljuks, Mongols and Osmans with the weak Byzantine empire. It was here that 
the mastery of the whole civilized world was fought for by Alexander the Great, and by 
the Romans; and that eastern trade and grand old Oriental cultivation built up great 
cities whose fame and influence will last as long as the world. The country was divided 
off into many provinces, sometimes independent, sometimes dependent on other states. 
One of these was the division of Cilicia, whose chief city was Tarsus, beautiful, rich, 
and celebrated as one of the most important places in all Asia Minor. Situated on 
both sides of the river Cydnus, it stood in the midst of a fair and productive plain, 
about ten miles from the Mediterranean Sea. It was a great market for traffic between 
Syria, Egypt, and the central region of the East. From all parts of Cilicia wheat, bar- 
ley, cotton, copper, and gall-nuts, from which ointment was made, were brought to 
Tarsus and from there sent all over the known world. Besides this trade in grain and 
metals, there was an immense traffic in slaves. Almost all the household servants of 
the Romans were men, women, and children stolen from Cilicia and sold in the market- 
places of Tarsus to slave-dealers, who carried them to Rome. Finally the people would 
stand this cruel traffic no longer, and slaves ceased to be bought and sold in the city 
itself; but they were still stolen from the country round about and taken to the island 
Oi Delos, not far from Tarsus, where vast numbers were disposed of every day. Most 
of the slave-dealers were residents of Tarsus, and made large fortunes by selling their 
countrymen. The Cilicians were skillful sailors. Noble fleets of many vessels WCtt 
fitted out at Tarsus, and used bothforwar and piracy; for the people not only hired 
out their naval forces to fight for other nations, but they were great pirates, 
ships sailed all over the Mediterranean Sea in search of vessels laden with treasure, and 



60 Cities of the Ancient World. 

the sailors were so well trained that they seldom had any trouble in robbing and murder- 
ing their victims. The crews wore steel helmets on their heads, and carried light 
shields made of rawhide; they wore only one garment, a sort of shirt made of wool, 
and when they made their attacks each man was armed with two javelins and a short, 
curved sword; they were terrible enemies to fight against. All the nations on the great 
sea-coast suffered from their merciless robbery and persecution. At last the Romans 
sent out Pompey the Great, who succeeded in driving the pirates off the sea; he pushed 
them hard, and when the strife was over ten thousand of them were killed and twenty 
thousand were taken prisoners. In spite of this, many of these desperate men survived 
and continued their robber lives in the mountain regions of Cilicia. Nearly all the 
wealth which came from these piracies, as well as that which was obtained by commerce, 
was poured into Tarsus, which, the historian Xenophon tells us, was a large and popu- 
lous city under the rule of a Persian governor. 

Later on, when the city was subject to the early Roman emperors, it was renowned 
for culture as well as commerce, and its zeal for learning was, at that time, equal to that 
of Athens and Alexandria. The people became less fierce and warlike, and paid more 
attention to art and to providing themselves with luxuries. In the year 42 B.C. it was a 
grand metropolis, filled with noble buildings and ornamented in a most superb fashion. 
It had many mosques, or places of worship, and market-places; these were not a col- 
lection of booths or stalls filled with meat and vegetables, such as we call markets, but 
handsome open squares where people met and talked over the affairs of the day or held 
meetings. Parts of one of the magnificent churches which adorned the city, remain to 
this day. The river Cydnus flowed through the middle of the city, and was a great 
artery of trade and a source of wealth; but its waters were extremely cold, unfit for bath- 
ing. It is said that Alexander the Great was made very ill from the effects of a plunge 
into the stream when over-heated. But the people did not bathe in the water as they 
found it in the river; they built public baths, and cultivated much the same bathing 
habits as the Greeks and Romans in other cities. These baths were among the most 
magnificent buildings of Tarsus; all the rooms were ornamented with mosaics and 
adorned with paintings and statuary. The tanks were arranged so that bathers could 
use water of any temperature they wished; after the bath, the body was rubbed with 
ointments and perfumes; nearly all the baths had a large room set apart for exercise. 
When only one bath a day was desired, it was taken just before the principal meal; but 
many of the people bathed several times during the day. 

About this time, when the city was most prosperous, it became the residence of the 
famous Roman general Marc Anthony. Cleopatra, the beautiful and wealthy queen of 
Egypt visited him there, and in order to impress him with her beauty and wealth, she 
resolved to come with great pomp. She made magnificent preparations, and sailed up 
the river into the heart of the city in a most sumptuous vessel. The stern was covered 



Troy, or Ilium. 



or 



with gold, the sails were of purple, and the oars were silver. The oarsmen pulled them 
through the Cilician waters in time to the music of flutes, and pipes, and harps. The 
beautiful queen, adorned to imitate Venus, lay under a canopy of the most exquisite 
workmanship embroidered with gold; while boys stood fanning her on each side of her 
couch. Her maid-servants helped to steer the vessel and scatter sweet-smelling incense 
about the shores. 




CLEOPATRA S JOURNEY. 



" The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, 
Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold: 
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that 
The winds were love-sick with them: the oars were cilver, 
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke. 

* * * The city cast 
Her people out upon her; and Anthony 
Enthroned i' the market-place, did sit alone. 
Whistling to the air; which but for vacancy, 
Had gone to gaze on Cleopatra too, 
And made a gap in nature." 

The Roman nobleman was as much impressed by all this magnificence as the 
queen could have wished; he became Cleopatra's devoted slave, and made her 
rich gifts of land and treasure. Tarsus was famed also for its great men. It was 
the birthplace of St. Paul, of Antipater the stoic, Athenodorus the philosopher, and of 
several Greek poets and grammarians. The emperor Julian was buried in a magnificent 
tomb near the city. 

The very ancient city of Troy, or Ilium, was situated in the northwest part of 
Minor. All that we know of it is from the partly fabulous descriptions of ancient 



62 Cities of the Ancient World. 

and from recent investigations; until these discoveries modern scholars thought that no 
such city existed; but it has been proved that there was. They say that it lay at the 
foot of Mount Ida, far enough from the yEgean Sea to allow the movements of a large 
army upon a plain before it. Another smaller plain lay behind it. In front of the city, 
flowing through the plain, were two rivers, the Simois and Scamander, which ran parallel 
for some distance, and then, uniting, emptied into the Hellespont. This is the strait 
which divides Europe from Asia. The ancients spoke of it as a wide river flowing 
through thickly-wooded banks into the ^Egean Sea. It is about one mile in breadth. 
The plain in which Troy was situated is seven miles in width and eighteen or twenty 
miles long; near the sea it is level, but in front of the site of the ancient city it is high 
and steep. The rivers Simois and Scamander form slender threads of bright water flow- 
ing through it and disappearing in the sea. There is a city Troja, which we read of in 
the traditions of the Trojan war; but that is not the Troy or Ilium of history, which was 
founded about the beginning of the seventh century B.C. The former is sometimes 
called Old Ilium, the latter New Ilium. The history of the Old Troy tells us that the 
god Neptune built its walls, and that years after a Trojan prince, named Paris, carried 
off a Greek woman called Helen from her home in Sparta and took her to Troy. Be- 
cause of this the Greeks made war upon the Trojans. The latter were driven within the 
walls of their city, and nine years were spent by the immense Grecian army in besieging 
it. It was captured and utterly destroyed in the tenth year, which is supposed to have 
been about 1184 b.c. 

There was in Troy a celebrated statue of the goddess Minerva, called the Palladium. 
It was said to have fallen from Heaven, and the people believed that the city could not 
be taken so long as this statue remained within it. Ulysses and Diomed, two of the 
leaders of the Greeks, entered the city in disguise and succeeded in stealing the Palla- 
dium, which they carried off to the Grecian camp. But Troy still held out, and the 
Greeks began to despair of ever subduing it by force, and by the advice of Ulysses re- 
solved to resort to stratagem. They pretended to be making preparations to abandon 
the siege, and a portion of their ships were withdrawn and lay hid behind a neighboring 
island. They then built an immense wooden horse, which they said was intended as an 
offering to Minerva, but in fact was filled with armed men. The remaining Greeks then 
went to their ships and sailed away, as if for final departure. The Trojans, seeing the 
encampment broken up and the fleet gone, thought the enemy had given up the siege. 
The gates were thrown open, and the whole population went out; they held a great 
rejoicing because they could once more go freely over the plain so long occupied by the 
armies of another nation. The great horse was the chief object of curiosity. All won- 
dered what it could be for. Some wanted to take it into the city as a trophy; others 
felt afraid of it. Among these was Laocoon, the priest of Neptune, who told the citi- 
zens it was madness to take the horse into the city, and advised them to be on their 




THE LAOCOON. 



Troy, or Ilium. 65 

guard against Grecian fraud. Just at this moment a group of people appeared dragging 
forward a Greek prisoner. Speechless with terror he was brought before the chiefs, 
who promised that his life should be spared on condition of his answering truthfully the 
questions asked him. He told them that his name was Sinon, and that, through the 
hatred of Ulysses he had been left behind by his countrymen at their departure. He 
said the wooden horse was an offering to Minerva, and that it had been made of such a 
huge size for the purpose of preventing its being carried within the city.; for a prophet 
had told them that if the Trojans took possession of it, they would surely triumph over 
the Greeks. This story completely deceived the people, and they began to think how 
they might get the monstrous horse into the city, when suddenly a wonderful thing hap- 
pened. There appeared coming over the sea two immense serpents. They came upon 
the land, and the crowd fled in all directions. The serpents advanced directly to the 
spot where Laocoon stood with his two sons. They first attacked the children, winding 
round their bodies and breathing in their faces. The father attempting to rescue them 
was next seized and crushed in the serpents' coils. He struggled to tear them away, 
but they strangled him and his children in their poisonous folds. This*event was looked 
upon as a clear indication that the gods were angry with Laocoon for what he had 
advised about the horse, and the people dragged the great statue into the city with songs 
of triumph, and the day closed with feasting and merry-making. In the night the armed 
men, who were shut up in the body of the horse, were let out by Sinon, and they opened 
the gates of the city to their friends, who had returned under cover of the darkness. 
The city was set on fire, the people, overcome with feasting and sleep, were killed, and 
Troy was completely subdued. Ulysses, the author of this plot, had many adventures 
on his way home from Troy to his home Ithaca in Greece. He went through perils on 
land and sea, escaped from the Cyclopes, a hideous race of one-eyed giants into whose 
power he and his companions fell, got the better of the sorceress Circe, who turned some 
of Ulysses' men into swine, sailed through the whirlpools where were the monsters Scylla 
and Charybdis, where he lost some of his sailors, and after years of wandering and adven- 
ture, at last arrived safely at Ithaca. 

Troy was built with great magnificence. There were stately palaces and high walls 
lining the streets, with altars and fountains. Their household utensils were finely made, 
and the ornaments used to decorate the furniture and for dress were of beautiful work- 
manship. Behind the city proper there rose a hill, on top of which was an acropolis, <>r 
fortified place. This contained all the temples of the gods and the palaces of the kings. 
The city must have had many gates, but only one is spoken of by the ancients, and 
that is directly opposite the Acropolis, opening into the plain before the city. The walls 
of Troy are described as lofty and strong, and Hanked by towers. At New Ilium the 
goddess Athena, or Minerva, was worshiped by generals before going t<> war. It was 
built by some of the kings of Lydia, and was enlarged and beautified, firsl by Alexander 
5 



66 Cities of the Ancient World. 

the Great, and afterward by Julius Caesar. It is not known exactly whether it occupied 
the same site as Old Ilium or not. 

Ephesus was situated in Lydia, a country in the western part of Asia Minor. The 
soil around the city was well watered and fruitful. The whole country was one of the 
most fertile in the world, with a mild and healthful climate, and almost every natural 
advantage excepting that it was never long free from severe earthquakes that sometimes 
made great havoc. The rich territory, central situation, and the energetic people gave 
Ephesus great prosperity. It was said to have been founded by the Amazons, a race of 
warlike women who lived in Caucasus, the boundary region between Europe and Asia. 
The chief glory of the city was its magnificent temple of Diana; around the shrine of 
this goddess Persians, Lydians, Greeks and Romans bowed in worship, and there never 
was a temple in the world that displayed so much pomp and magnificence. Diana had 
three names. She was supposed to be called Luna in heaven, where she was the moon; 
on the earth she was known as Diana, and in hell the ancients said that she was Proser- 
pine. As Diana, she was the goddess of hunting; ancient artists and poets picture her 
as armed with a bow and arrows, and with maid-servants following her. She was often 
represented as running with her garments flying back and tied about her. On her 
shoulder she had a quiver, and held either a javelin or a bow in her right hand. As 
Luna, or the moon, Diana was represented with a crescent on her forehead, armed with 
a bow and arrows, in a silver chariot drawn by two horses, the one white, the other black. 
Sometimes she carried a torch, indicating that her office was to give light to the world. 
As Proserpine she appeared with three heads; among other offerings made to her in this 
form was honey. Before the great temple was built, the Ephesians worshiped a small 
ebony statue of Diana, which they believed was sent down from heaven. As this figure 
became decayed by age, it was propped by rods of iron; it was first placed upon a block 
of beech or elm wood, but in later times was kept in a shrine, adorned with all that 
wealth could give. As the veneration for the goddess increased in Ephesus, the mag- 
nificent temple was built on the spot where the sacred image had stood. This temple 
was seven times ruined and restored at the expense of all Asia. During the night on 
which Alexander the Great was born, in 356 B.C. the temple was burned to the ground 
by a man called Erostratus, who said he did it for no other reason than to make himself 
famous. It was rebuilt this time by the people of Ephesus alone, the women contribut- 
ing their jewelry and ornaments; this time it was two hundred and twenty years before 
the temple was finished. It was then four hundred and twenty-five feet long and two 
hundred and twenty feet wide, being the largest of the Greek temples, and four times 
as large as the Parthenon at Athens. It was magnificently decorated with sculptures 
and paintings; the statue of Diana was of ivory, furnished with exquisitely wrought 
golden ornaments. Some of the medals and coins of Ephesus bore a representation of 
the temple, which was counted one of the seven wonders of the world. A criminal flying 



Ephesus. 



67 



from justice could take refuge within a certain distance from the temple, and be free 
from punishment; consequently, one portion of the city was entirely inhabited by these 
refugees, and was called the rogues' quarter. 

Many other gods and goddesses had their temples at Ephesus, and were worshiped 
there. Nothing could surpass the beauty and style of the decorations inside these build- 
ings. The shrines and walls were ornamented by 
Praxiteles, the sculptor, and his son Parrhasius, 
and Apelles the painter, who were the most 
famous artists of ancient times. Timorete, the 
first female artist on record, finished in Ephesus 
a picture of Diana, the most ancient in the city. 
Parrhasius was the first to give painting true pro- 
portion, the details of the face, and the elegance 
of the hair. He was in the habit of inscribing 
sentences on his own productions, saying that 
in his works the art of painting had reached its 
highest excellence. The story is told of him 
that he once tortured a slave in order to obtain 
the proper expression of suffering for a face in 
the picture called " Prometheus Chained." 

The Ephesians, though they were barbarians, 
and were different from the Greeks both in their 
language and in their religion, were nevertheless 
very gifted people. They cultivated the arts, 
and before they were conquered by the Persians 
under Cyrus the Great, in 546 B.C., they were 
industrious, brave, and warlike. Cyrus forbade 
them the use of arms and caused them to prac- 
tice dancing and singing, instead of cultivating 
the arts of war. This mode of life gradually 
made them weak and unmanly; but their com- 
mercial industry continued, and was a source of 

il prosperity. The Ephesians managed the 
a l fairs of the city by a senate and a general 
assembly <>f the people, which appointed officers 

to administer the laws. The inhabitants of the city were, in early times, very super- 

- and made much use of sorcery and the magic arts. " Ephesian Letters" were 

sp.-lls or sentences which they used to write upon their girdles, or wear upon different 

parts ot their bodies as charms against evil, or by which the power of the gods might he 




HOMER. 



68 Cities of the Ancient World. 

called upon. Beside the temples the buildings of Ephesus included a large theater, a 
gymnasium, elegant private houses built on terraces rising one above the other, and 
many handsome tombs. 

North of Ephesus, also in the province of Lydia, was Smyrna; these two cities were 
called the eyes of Asia Minor. The latter was a very ancient town founded by an 
Amazon, who gave it her name. It was a place of small importance until it was extended 
and beautified by the great general Lysimachus, about 150 b .c, when it became a most 
magnificent city, and certainly the finest in all Asia Minor. The streets were hand- 
some, well paved, and drawn at right angles, with several squares; stately porticoes stood 
in various places, and the city had a public library, numerous temples and other public 
buildings. It also possessed an excellent harbor, which could be completely closed, and 
it was chiefly by this that Smyrna came to be one of the wealthiest and most flourishing 
commercial cities of Asia, with a wide-spread fame for learning from its schools of 
rhetoric and philosophy. The view from the Acropolis of the city was truly grand. 
Toward the interior the valleys and mountains stretched as far as the eye could reach; 
many celebrated cities could be seen, places where great events of history happened. 
In the opposite direction the islands of Greece lay in full view; while just at hand flowed 
the little river Meles, on whose shady banks Homer was said to have been born. Several 
places have claimed to be the birthplace of Homer, but the inhabitants of Smyrna 
were so sure of their right to this honor, that they built a temple to the great poet; it 
was a splendid edifice containing a statue of Homer. They even showed a cave near their 
city, where the poet was said to have composed his works. But it was only one claimant 

and there were 

' Seven ancient cities claimed great Homer dead, 
In which the living Homer begged his bread." 

The Smyrna people used to tell the story of the great poet's life in a way of their 
own. They say he became a schoolmaster, and first wrote his poems in the city; he 
was then invited by a foreign merchant to travel with him; and while on his travels in 
Ithaca he was attacked by a disease in the eyes, which made him totally blind; so that 
he composed and recited verses wherever he went afterward to gain a living. The story 
goes on to say that while on a voyage from Smyrna to Athens, Homer landed at Ios, 
an island in the ^Egean Sea, and there died of vexation at being unable to solve a 
riddle asked him by some young fishermen, in answer to his question if they had caught 
any fish. "As many as we caught," said they, " we left; as many as we did not catch, 
we carry." Ios became celebrated as the burial place of the great poet, and some 
people believe that his tomb has been found there. 

A little more than fifty miles east from Smyrna was Sard is, the ancient capital 
of Lydia. Croesus, the richest man of those days, and perhaps of any time, lived 
in Sardis, and at one time ruled over thirteen nations. He ascended the throne in a 




ROMAN TYPES AND COSTUMES. 



Miletus. 69 

time of peace and prosperity, and was heir to untold treasures. He seemed to be suc- 
cessful in everything he undertook and soon became a mighty monarch. The vast 
wealth which he inherited he increased by the tribute of conquered countries, by 
seizing private property, and by gold which was dug from the sands of the Pactolus, 
a stream which flowed near Sardis. We may form some idea of his wealth from 
the offerings which he made to the gods and placed in the temples. Herodotus, 
the historian, saw a hundred and seventeen ingots of solid gold of great weight laid 
up at Delphi. He also saw in various parts of Greece other rich offerings, all of 
gold, which had been placed in the temples by this wealthy monarch; among them 
the life-size statue of a lion, a wine bowl of the same weight as the lion, and a 
statue of a female, of gigantic size, said to be Crcesus' baking woman. Solon, a 
famous law-giver of Athens, and one of the seven wise men of Greece, visited Sardis 
at the request of Crcesus. When he w r as brought before the king he found him richly 
dressed, and ornamented with the most curious and valuable adornments imaginable, 
beautiful in colors, elegant in designs of gold and jewels. Solon was not at all surprised, 
nor did he pay the compliments which were expected to the king. Crcesus then ordered 
his treasures to be opened, and his magnificent apartments and furniture to be shown, 
and when Solon had seen it all Crcesus asked him if he had even beheld a happier man 
than he. Solon answered that he had, and named some poor and worthy people of 
Athens who had lived pure and good lives and died happily; and said that no man could 
be called truly happy until he was dead. 

The city of Sardis was at first built in a rude manner, and the houses were covered 
with dry reeds, so light that a large part of the city was repeatedly destroyed by fire; 
but the Acropolis, the stronghold for defending the town, was built upon an almost inac- 
cessible rock, and surrounded with a triple wall. At the side of the steep hill on which 
the Acropolis stood was a large theater surrounded by many smaller buildings, and in 
the valley was a splendid gymnasium and a still more splendid palace, the residence of 
Crcesus. One of the tombs in Sardis was circular in shape, and measured eleven hun- 
dred and forty feet in diameter. The customs and pursuits of the inhabitants of the city 
were similar to those of the Ephesians, but it is probable that there was more magnifi- 
cence and luxury in Sardis than in Ephesus. 

Miletus was situated in the northern part of Caria, on the western coast of Asia 
Minor. It stood at the entrance of a bay into which the Maeander River flowed, and 
had four harbors, protected by a group of islands. It was celebrated as an industrial 
and commercial city, and in early Grecian history it was the foremost maritime [lower, 
extending its commerce and colonies all over the shores of the Mediterranean, the Pro- 
pontis, and the Euxine. At the same time it occupied a noted place among the most 
enlightened cities, being the birthplace of several philosophers and historians. Miletus, 
in its best days consisted of an inner and an outer city, each of which had its own for- 



jo Cities of the Ancient World. 

tifications. It must have been great and beautiful, to judge from the ruins of mag- 
nificent temples, arches, etc., which have been unearthed. Its people were weak, 
and listless, though at one time they must have been brave and warlike. Their manu- 
factures of couches and other furniture were very celebrated, and their woolen cloths, 
and carpets were eagerly sought for. 

Halicarnassus, originally called Zephyr ia, was an ancient city of Caria in Asia 
Minor, on the Ceramic Gulf. About 380 b.c. the city Was under the rule of Carian 
princes, the most famous of whom was Mausolus, who restored and fortified it. He 
died in 352, and over his remains his wife caused to be raised a monument so beautiful 
that it has ever since given the name mausoleum to all magnificent tombs. It was so- 
rich and beautiful, so grand and noble, that the ancients called it one of the seven won- 
ders of the world. The foundation was almost a square, measuring four hundred and 
seventy-two feet in circumference, and formed by quarrying into the solid rock. On 
t.ie west side of the platform was the entrance to the inner tomb, which was closed, after 
tae corpse had been carried in, by a huge stone. Behind this stone was an alabaster 
vase, and here and there in the, gloomy vault were colossal statues of men and horses, 
and battle scenes were sculptured in the flinty rock. Upon the foundation a portico 
with thirty-six massive columns was built, and surmounting this was a pyramid, on the 
summit of which was a marble statue of Mausolus. 

The plan of the city was grand and symmetrical. From the edge of the harbor the 
buildings rose on terraces formed partly by excavations from the rock, and partly by 
walls of masonry. The first terrace was crowned by the Mausoleum, or the tomb of 
Mausolus, the second by the temple of Mars. Two citadels occupied hills at the upper 
end of the city, while the whole was enclosed by a strong and lofty wall. The palace of 
Mausolus and the temple of Venus and Mercury stood on the two points of the harbor, 
forming the extremities of the city. Halicarnassus had many attractive features, among 
which were the fountain of Salmacis and a vast theater. The water of the spring of 
Srlmacis was thought to make those who drank it very lazy, but it is probable that the 
inhabitants of Halicarnassus made this an excuse for their well-known love of luxury 
ana indolence. This was true of them only in their later history, however, for Herodo- 
tus, the historian, who was a native of Halicarnassus, wrote that the people of that region 
were once warlike and skilled in naval affairs. They were the inventors of three things 
the use of which was borrowed from them by the Greeks; they were the first to 
fasten crests on helmets, and to put figures on shields, and they invented handles for 
shields. Herodotus was born in Halicarnassus about 484 B.C., and died in Italy about 
420 b.c. He inherited a great deal of money and traveled far and wide, staying a 
long time in every country he visited, and afterward describing carefully the scenery, 
cities, temples, manners, and customs. His style of writing was beautiful and simple, 
and so high a value is placed upon his works that he is called the father of history. 



Comana — Pcrgamus. 71 

Comana was a city of CappadOcia, in the western part of Asia Minor, on the river 
Sarus. It was celebrated in antiquity for its temple of Ma, the moon goddess, and for 
the devotion of the inhabitants to her worship. Every year there were two great pro- 
cessions in honor of the goddess, on which occasions the chief priest wore a diadem, and 
was considered next in dignity to the king. Over six thousand persons were continually 
engaged in the service of the temple; they were men and women owned as slaves by the 
high priest, but they could not be sold by him. The high priest was also governor of 
the city. Among other rules for preserving the purity of the place, it was forbidden to 
eat swine's flesh within the sacred enclosure; Cleon, a robber from the eastern part of 
Asia Minor, was once made high priest by Octavianus Caesar; he broke this rule, and 
his terrible and speedy death was supposed to have been the result of his impiety. 
Comana was a large and populous city. At the processions of the goddess there was a 
vast gathering of people from the towns and country all around, men and women. The 
population was also increased by people who lived there in order to keep vows and make 
sacrifices to the goddess. The inhabitants were fond of luxury and good living, and their 
lands produced plenty of wine. 

On the other side of Asia Minor, in Mysia, was Pergatnus, the place where the 
army which started from Sardis under Cyrus to subdue the king of Persia, was disbanded. 
Xenophon, the great Greek historian, has written an interesting account of the long 
march from Sardis to Cunaxa, near Babylon, where the army was defeated and Cyrus 
himself killed. From Cunaxa the Greeks began to retreat homeward, and Xenophon 
became their leader. The whole of the journey, both of the expedition and the retreat, 
is said to have taken two hundred and fifteen days' march; and the time employed in 
both was a year and three months. The battle of Cunaxa is fully described by Xeno- 
phon, and is interesting as showing the mode of warfare of the troops of Asia Minor, 
who were called the Barbarians. About noon on the day of the battle, one of Cyrus's 
officers made his appearance, riding at great speed, with his horse in a sweat, and calling 
out that Artaxerxes the king was approaching with a vast army prepared for the battle. 
Cyrus leaped down from the chariot in which he was riding, put on his breast-plate, 
mounted his horse, and taking a javelin in his hand, gave orders for all the troops to 
arm themselves and take their stations, each man in his own place. The Barbarian 
cavalry, to the number of one thousand, were placed on the right of the line of battle, 
her with the Greek peltasts, who carried only light arms and used bows ami arrows 
and slings. In the center was Cyrus, and with him about six hundred cavalry, tin- men 
all armed with breast-plates, defenses for the thighs, and helmets, excepl Cyrus alone; 
who went into the fight with his head unprotected. All the horses of the cavalry that were 
with Cyrus had armor on the forehead and breast. Presently the enemy came in si^lu, 
and as they approached, bra/en armor began to Hash, and the spears and ranks became 
Visible. There was a body of cavalry in white armor on the left of the enemy's line; 



*]2 Cities of the Ancient World. 

close by these were troops with wicker shields, and next to them heavy armed soldiers 
with long wooden shields reaching to their feet; then other cavalry and bowmen. In 
front of the line, at some distance apart, were chariots with sharp scythes projecting from 
the hubs of the wheels, and under the driver's seat, pointing to the ground. At first the 
forces of Cyrus were victorious, and pursued the enemy for some distance; but becom- 
ing separated in this way, Cyrus was left almost alone, and was attacked and killed. 
His death discouraged the Greek forces, and they abandoned the expedition and re- 
treated homeward. When they reached Pergamus, the captains, the generals and the 
soldiers gave Xenophon many rich gifts for his bravery and skill in leading the army back. 
Pergamus was an ancient city, situated in a most beautiful district; three lovely rivers 
were in its vicinity, and one, the Selinus, flowed through the city itself, while another 
washed its walls. Pergamus was originally a fortress of great natural strength, being 
situated on the summit of a hill, round the foot of which there were at that time no 
houses. Afterward, however, a city arose at the foot of the hill, and the latter then 
became the Acropolis. Lysimachus, one of the generals of Alexander the Great, chose 
Pergamus as a place of security for his treasures, which amounted to nine millions of 
dollars. In 197 B.C. the city was one of the most splendid places in Asia; it had spa- 
cious walks and gardens, public buildings, and a library. One temple was built which 
could be seen for mil^s out upon the ^Egean Sea, and everything was made with an 
unusual degree of splendor. The library of Pergamus, which is said to have consisted 
of no less than two hundred thousand volumes, was given by Anthony to Cleopatra. 
The inhabitants were fond of games and sports of all kinds; they had horse races and 
cock-fights, and they built an immense amphitheater over the river Selinus with arrange- 
ments to flood the arena for rowing matches and swimming contests. The city was cele- 
brated for its manufacture of ointments, pottery, and parchment. 

In the central part of Asia Minor, in the province of Galatia, was Ancyra. The 
position of this town made it a place of great trade, for it lay on the road between 
Byzantium and Syria, and was constantly filled with merchants and travelers. The hills 
about the city gave fine, pasture, and the inhabitants raised great herds of goats and 
sold their fine, silky hair in large quantities. The chief monument of antiquity was the 
marble temple of Augustus Caesar, whom the people of Ancyra regarded as a god. The 
city also had a rich museum. The name Ancyra was said to come from the fact that 
an anchor (the Greek name is ancyra), was found on the spot where the city stood. 

Patara was a flourishing commercial city on the southwest coast of Lycia. This 
place was large, and had a good harbor. Patara was most celebrated in ancient times 
for its temple and oracle of Apollo. This oracle spoke its prophecies through a priest- 
ess, only through a certain period of the year, said to have been the six winter months. 
The priestess sat at the bottom of a deep, circular pit, whence she delivered whatever 
the oracle had to say. 




TYPES AND COSTUMES OF EARLY GRECIAN nil 



GREECE. 

ANCIENT civilization reached its highest point at Athens, the capital of the Greek 
or Hellenic nation. With the exception of Christianity, nearly everything that 
the modern world possesses has come from these people, who raised themselves 
from barbarism to a grandly organized nation. They were the most remarkable people 
that ever lived. They originated the plan of political freedom; they first wrote regular 
histories, which stand perfect of their kind even now; they excelled in oratory, poetry, 
sculpture, and architecture. They founded the science of mathematics, of physics, of 
true politics, and the philosophy of life and human nature. In all these things they 
took the first steps, and in doing that gave the world their grandest legacy of all, which 
is freedom of thought. Asia Minor, Egypt, and Phoenicia may have given the Greeks 
some of the ideas to start with, but the Hellenes began the development and set them 
going. In two centuries they gave the world such an intellectual impetus that it has 
never stopped; and yet, in the twenty centuries since that time, all the nations of the 
world combined have not added as much more to the store of science and knowledge of 
principles. The chief seat of the Grecian power was upon the lower part of the most 
easterly of the three enormous peninsulas, Spain, Italy, and Greece, which project south- 
ward into the Mediterranean Sea. Unlike Spain, and far different from Italy, the third 
peninsula was a vast triangle. Its base extended from the top of the Adriatic to the 
mouth of the river Danube and its two sides were washed by the sea. Being most 
favorably situated, it very naturally became a great center of attraction when the Medi- 
terranean was the world's great highway of commerce and civilization. Its eastern shore 
was bathed by the yEgean Sea, which is studded with many islands almost linking it by 
land to Asia Minor; on the west but a narrow channel separated it from Italy, and on the 
south the open highway of the sea was skirted by the most fertile portion of Africa. 
The Hellenic Peninsula had in itself grand advantages of mountains, lakes, rivers, ami 
naturally protected coasts. While it is one of the most mountainous countries of Europe, 
the surfaces are so arranged with numerous small plains, either entirely surrounded by 
limestone mountains or open only to the sea, that the land itself almost established the 
people into many small independent states, which by the great chain of mountains form- 
ing the northern boundary was defended against other tribes or nations. In these small 

75 



76 Cities of the Ancient World. 

plains the people built their cities. The mountains which separated one from another 
being lofty and rugged, the community grew up in solitary independence, and formed its 
own character. So the Grecian states grew strong and hardy; they were protected from 
foreign invasion by mountains whose passes were so sharp and dangerous that a handful of 
resolute men could keep out an invading army. But thus guarded against more powerful 
•enemies, the Hellenes did not grow up a wild isolated people, for their peninsula had a 
wonderful extent of sea coast on all sides, and many bays and inlets reached far into 
the land, affording easy intercourse with one another and with the rest of the world. 

The most famous of these provinces was Attica, in about the center of the country, 
bordered by an arm of the JEgean Sea on the east and the Saronic Gulf on the west. 
It was itself a peninsula and the most southeasterly part of Greece. It was in the midst 
•of a hill-encircled plain near the western shore of this province that Athens stood. The 
city was built upon the rising and falling ground of a beautiful plain, studded here and 
there by rocky hills. The highest and steepest of these was the center of the city. It 
was called the Acropolis or upper city, and even more than the Capitoline Hill of Rome, 
was the chief of all places within' the walls. Its rocky sides rose almost perpendicularly 
to the height of a hundred and fifty feet. Around the edge of the summit there ran a 
line of fortifications enclosing an uneven plain eleven hundred and fifty feet long and 
five hundred broad. This was the beginning of Athens as a city; it was the greatest of 
all Greek citadels, the sacred enclosure of temples, and the watch-tower of the whole 
Attic plain. Here the grandest pieces of Athenian architecture stood, and here now their 
remains lie more noble in a ruined condition tnan any other architecture in Europe. The 
enclosure of the Acropolis was entered through the Propylaea, or vestibule overlooking 
the city. There was a vast gate of pure white marble occupying all the western end of 
the hill. This is the only side upon which it has ever been possible to reach the sum- 
mit. The frontage of the Propylaea was a hundred and sixty feet, or a little more than 
twice the width of Broadway in New York. So the magnificent building was a massive 
fortification as well as a gateway. But beside these objects it was also built to be one 
•of the principal adornments of the citadel. It was the most magnificent thing in Athens, 
and displayed the greatest splendor of all antique art. The chief part of it consisted of 
a large square enclosed by walls on the right and left, but opening toward both the city 
and the Acropolis by means of porticoes. On either side of the central colonnades which 
formed the grand entrance, were lofty wings of stately columns with rich frieze and other 
beautiful decorations; these stood forward toward the west, while a great double flight 
•of splendid marble steps led up the slanting rock of the hill, from the city to the center 
section of the Propylaea; between them lay a wide carriage-road, paved with large slabs 
of marble, chiseled with grooves for the wheels of the carts which carried the splendid 
peplosoi Athens in the religious processions. This road also extended through the main 
entrance of the gate, and led up to the temple. Behind the facade of Doric columns 



Athens. jg 

was a deep vestibule, with slender columns dividing it into three aisles or compartments 
and supporting the roof. The ceiling was laid upon marble beams most beautifully 
decorated. At the further end of this stately magnificent hall, five doors or gates led 
into a back portico, fronted with a Doric colonnade and pediment above, the same size 
as those of the western or outer portico. The whole space was covered with slender 
marble cross-pieces, which spanned the naves and carried a rich and graceful casket-work. 
The interiors of the wings were adorned with paintings by the greatest artists of the times. 
In the northern part there was the celebrated paintings by Polygnotus from Homer's 
Iliad and Odyssey. These poems were looked upon by the Greeks with as much rever- 
ence as we have for the Scriptures. The surface of the hill-top was naturally uneven; 
but the inconvenience of this was overcome by steps and paved slopes. One step below 
the inner portico lay the level of the adjacent parts of the extensive Acropolis platform. 
Nearly opposite the Propyla^a stood a colossal bronze statue of Pallas; it was one of 
the first things the Athenians saw after entering the gateway. With the pedestal it was 
about seventy feet high, towering above every other object on the Acropolis, and visible 
from distant points on land or ships at sea. It represented the goddess armed and ready 
for battle, and was called by the Greeks Athena Promachus, the "champion goddess." 
Numerous holy statues, altars, groups of buildings, and other ornaments filled the space 
with artistic splendor, above all of which rise two grand structures which were beautiful 
beyond description, and more sacred to the entire Greek nation than almost any other 
places in the world. The nearest of these was a temple called the Erechtheum, on the 
northern side of the Acropolis. It was built in the Ionic style of Greek architecture, and 
its apartments were more complicated than ordinary temples because of the manner in 
which the divine services in it were held. It was the most venerated of all the temples 
in Athens, and was connected with the oldest rites in the religious history of the city. 
The western end was taken up by a wall with three windows between the ornamental 
columns. At the upper corner was a gracefully proportioned portico, with a handsome 
entablature and pediment surrounding the roof, which was borne by six tall, slender and 
richly decorated Ionic columns. Beyond this a beautiful door led into the sanctuary, 
which was in the shape of a large oblong divided into half, and distinctly separated by a 
cross-wall. The portico doors opened into a sort of corridor, with a small hall at the 
other end, corresponding to the portico. Around this room stood rows of caryatids, 
representing Athenian maidens, upholding the ceiling. From the corridor three door- 
ways led into the cella or temple hall of the Erechtheum, where the shrines and statues 
of Neptune and other gods stood. The other main hall, corresponding to this in size, 
but reached through a colonnaded portico extending across the eastern end of the build- 
ing, was devoted to Pallas Athene or Minerva. This temple was not built for the wor- 
ship of Pallas, but was placed under his protection, being the store-house of the Bacred 
treasures of the city. It was called the Erechtheum, from a tradition that ErechthetlS, a 



80 Cities of the Ancient World. 

mythic king of Greece, had been buried on the spot where the temple stood. The sanc- 
tuary that was devoted to the worship of Pallas stood opposite the Erechtheum, and with 
the Propylsea was the most imposing edifice on the Acropolis. In stately elegance and 
magnificent proportions it crowned the highest point on the hill, "one of the most per- 
fect, if not the most perfect, monument of Greek architecture." The Parthenon, the 
Greeks called it, or the "virgin's shrine," for Pallas was also known as Parthenos or 
the virgin; Minerva was the name given her by the Romans. She was most devotedly 
worshiped at Athens, and for that reason was called Pallas Athene, or Pallas of Athens, 
and sometimes she was referred to merely as Athene. She was the warrior goddess 
of wisdom, art, and peace, for the Greeks said that in waging a successful war she brought 
about peace. All that the Attic people deemed most desirable in military power or 
civilized arts Athene was patroness of, while she was believed to watch over the pros- 
perity of the city and the whole Attic state. The temple stood in grand and solemn 
beauty above and in full view of the people. It was entirely of white marble, and the 
pavement of its peristyle or vestibule was on a level with the capitals — or tops — of the 
columns in front of the inner portico of the Propylsea. The marble came from Mount 
Pentelicus, one of the richest quarries in the whole country, which had in every part' 
rarer veins of this material for sculptor and builder than almost any other place in the 
ancient or the modern world. The shape of the Parthenon was a regular oblong, stand- 
ing above a flight three steps, and with a lofty row of massive Doric columns running all 
the way around it. Above the columns was a broad entablature; a richly sculptured 
pediment decorated front, while groups of sculpture stood on the point and the four corners 
of the roof. At each end within the outside row of columns there was an inner colon- 
nade ; beyond which rose the walls of the temple. The second row of columns was the 
portico of the Protiaos, which was raised two steps above the peristyle. Here there were 
large and rich collections of sacred objects, made chiefly of silver, and brought from 
far and near to celebrate the holiness of the temple and of its protecting goddess. They 
were kept safely behind iron railings, and carefully locked up by the Tarniai, but were 
plainly to be seen from the outside. In the center of the Pronaos was an entrance to the 
cella, or main hall of the temple. Around the outside of this apartment was a magnifi- 
cent frieze of colored sculpture representing in reliefs the celebrated Panathenaic proces- 
sion, which was the great religious festival of the city. A large number of the slabs 
of the frieze, together with some other pieces of sculpture in relief, and some of the 
statues of the pediments, were taken to England by Lord Elgin, who sold them to the 
government. They are now known as the Elgin marbles, and are among the greatest 
objects of interest in the British Museum.* 

Over the entrance to the Pronaos an assembly of the gods was represented as looking 

, *See description of London in " Great Cities of the Modern World." 



Athens. 8 1 

at the approaching Panathenaic procession of youths and maidens, priests and magistrates, 
oxen for sacrifices, flute players and singers, followed by high-born young Athenians on 
prancing steeds. A large door in the Pronaos led to the cella of the temple, called the 
Hi catompedos, because it measured a hundred Attic feet in length. Two rows of columns 
divided this room into three naves, and above these there was a second row of Doric 
pillars forming an upper story, reached by a staircase from the side naves. At the 
further end stood the wonderful statue of Pallas, by the Greek sculptor Phidias. The 
majestic figure of the goddess was placed on a beautifully sculptured pedestal, and was 
one of three statues which made Phidias famous forever. The face, neck, arms, hands, 
and feet were made of ivory; the drapery, which was removable, was of pure gold, and 
every little detail of the whole work was beautifully wrought with fine carving and orna- 
mentation of great merit. It represented the goddess standing, clothed with a tunic 
reaching to the ankles, with a spear in her left hand, and an image of Victory in her 
right. She was girded with the ffgis, and had a helmet on her head, and her shield 
rested on the ground by her side. The eyes were of a sort of marble resembling ivory. 

All the wonderful sculptures and decorations of the Parthenon, as well as other parts 
of the Acropolis, were by this famous sculptor, or by artists whom he directed. Phidias 
was the leader of a finer sort of sculpture than had ever been known before; he was the 
first to give to marble and other solid materials a graceful life-like appearance. The 
artists before him had only succeeded in making stiff representations of deities or the 
human figure; but Phidias gave to cold marble the grace and proportions of life, marked 
by a noble dignity and repose. There were two small doors in the end wall of this 
main cella, which led to a smaller room beyond, called the opisthodomos, or treasury. 
M any valuable articles, documents, and sacred offerings were kept here by certain officials, 
who had to give strict account of them. Another door led out of this chamber into a 
back hall, similar to the Pronaos, like it in appearance and also used as a place for works 
of art and pious offerings. The greatest religious ceremony held on the Acropolis or in 
any part of the Grecian capital was the Panathenaic festival. In it the whole Athenian 
population took part, making it a most brilliant and important occasion. At first the 
festivals were only horse and chariot races, but to these sports gymnastic contests were 
added, and later there were also competitions opened for poets and musicians. These 
exhibitions of skill took place on certain days in the third year of every Olympiad, which 
was a period of four years, reckoned from the celebration of the Olympian games, which 
occurred once in four years, and was the basis of Greek time-reckoning. There wen- 
very gay assemblages at the contests, and feasting and congratulations over the winners 
of prizes; but the climax of the festival came with the procession on the last of the 
allotted days. In the morning the citizens of Athens, with the peasants of the neighboring 
country, assembled before the chief gate of the city, and formed themselves into a pro- 

ion. At its head were Kitharoidoi and Auletai; after them followed ( itizens'on foot, 
6 



82 Cities of the Ancient World. 

armed with spears and shields, and others on horseback. Next came the victors in the 
horse races, riding or leading their horses, and with them the winners of the chariot 
races, standing in their splendid cars drawn by four horses abreast. " Priests, with 
their attendants, guarded the hekatombs to be sacrifices; old men, chosen for their dig- 
nified appearance, held in their hands olive branches from the holy tree of the Academy; 
other distinguished persons carried the votive offerings for the goddess; a select band 
of citizens' daughters carried baskets containing the utensils for the sacrifice, while ephetol 
brought valuable plate wrought by the most celebrated masters. After them followed 
the wives and daughters of the tribes protected by the Athenians, in their picturesque 
and distinctive costumes; the matrons holding in their hands oak branches, the emblem 
of Zeus Xenios, so as to make them as guests; the maidens carrying the sunshades and 
chairs of the citizens' daughters. The center of the procession was formed by a ship 
resting on wheels, which carried for a sail the peplos of Athene, woven by Attic maidens, 
and richly embroidered, in which the old Xoanon of the goddess in the Acropolis was 
dressed. In this order the procession moved through the most splendid streets of the 
city, past the most celebrated sanctuaries where gifts were offered, round the rock of the 
Acropolis, up the roadway and the great flight of marble steps, entering at last through 
the celebrated Propylaea. Here the procession divided, to gather again on the east 
side of the Parthenon. All armor and weapons were taken off, and hymns were sung to 
the goddess by the assembled crowd, while burnt offerings blazed on the altars, and 
votive offerings were laid away in the sanctuary." 

Below the Acropolis lay the city, surrounded by hills on all sides except the south; 
there it was open to the sea. Athens was an irregular oval in shape, surrounded by the 
walls of Themistocles, which made a circuit of seven and a half miles. This enclosure 
was called the Asty, or city proper, while two great walls extended to the sea coast, 
enclosing a long and broad strip of land from the city to the Phaleric Bay, reaching to 
Phalerum on the east, and the peninsula of Piraeus on the west. The coast-line at and 
between the ends of these walls was broken by several fine harbors, where the ports of 
Athens were situated. The center of commerce was at these port-towns; the center of 
all other features of Athenian life were in the Asty. It was not a magnificent city in 
all respects; the streets were narrow, crooked, and often unpaved; the mean-looking 
private houses were everywhere overshadowed by magnificent public buildings, making 
an unpleasant contrast. None of the houses were more than one story high, and this 
often projected over the streets. The dwelling of a family in good circumstances usually 
had a narrow frontage on a dirty, undrained street; it had either a wood frame or 
was built of unburnt bricks dried in the open air. A light coat of slightly tinted plaster 
covered the outside, which had only a few small windows on the second floor, and some- 
times the front had no openings at all except the entrance. This was never imposing, 
but in some cases there were two columns with a small vestibule, in front of the passage 




INTI RIOH OF I hi PARI HI NON 






Xj£r^ AtJicns. S 



leading to the central court of the buildTng, where a porter — one of the household slav - 
— guarded the house-door and answered the knock or call of the visitor. The rooms 
opening into the passage on either side were sometimes occupied as shops and workshops, 
but were usually appropriated to the slaves, with now and then a guest chamber. The 
court was nearly in the center of the house, and surrounded by rows of columns. An 
altar stood here, dedicated to the great protector of the family. At the further end an 
open hall opened from this court or yard, as it was called, which was a sort of half-public 
reception hall, and the boundary between the public and private life of the household. 
Here the family gathered at regular meals, and to take part in the religious ceremonies 
of the house. In a prominent place stood the altar, on which all the events of the 
domestic life were celebrated by religious ceremonies. Offerings to Hestia, the all- 
preserving goddess, were duly made and celebrated upon the departure or return of any 
member of the family, when a new member — even a slave — was added, at a marriage, a 
birth, a death, and all other occasions of any unusual happening in the domestic circle. 
This was also a sort of half public reception-hall. Here the master of the house attended 
to his affairs, saw his servants, received his business calls, rested and read from his 
books of manuscripts on parchment, which were kept in boxes standing about; here he 
wrote, studied, and talked with his visitors and feasted them at table. The Greeks were 
a very hospitable nation, and provision for the entertainment of guests was an important 
consideration with both the master and the mistress of every household. Back of this 
hall, and extending across the rear end of the dwelling, there were good-sized rooms for 
the maids, who were either at housework or spinning and weaving, under the supervision 
of the mistress. The center one of these rooms opened into the hall, and had also a 
doorway into the garden which lay behind the house. There was sometimes agate from 
here leading to the back street, for it was not uncommon for an Athenian dwelling to 
extend the full depth of a block. 

Opening into the colonnades at the sides of the court-yard were storerooms, bed- 
rooms, small rooms for servants, while the rooms opening into the open hall were for 
the master, his wife, and children. The floors of the best apartments were always paved 
and sometimes laid in mosaics; the walls were painted, and the furniture was of hand- 
some material and design, although far from the sumptuous taste of the old Romans. 
Men used couches, the women and children sat in chairs; about all the furniture beside 
these things consisted of chests and tables. The houses were lighted at nighl by bowl- 
shaped oil lamps, with a wick lying in the nozzle. These made a very poor light, but 
they were rich and artistic ornaments; some of them were made to stand, while otl 
hun^ upon costly candelabra. It was a peculiarity of the Greeks that they were contented 
to live modestly and even meanly themselves, while they saved no expense and put no 
limit upon the elegance and splendors of their temples and public buildings. These 
public spirited men of the grand old Grecian times were happy in the prosperity of the 



86 Cities of the Ancient World. 

state, and found their joy not in private magnificence but in beautifying Athens in a 
public way; and it was not until Greek freedom and greatness had vanished, and Athens 
was under Macedonian power, that it became fashionable to have luxurious private 
houses; and then it was that the public places and temples were neglected. The later 
style of dwellings were upon the same general plan as the earlier ones; but with two or 
more courts, large and more sumptuous apartments filled with some such furniture as 
the luxurious Romans placed in their palatial dwellings. 

All the work of the Athenian household was done by slaves; they ground the corn, 
made the bread, served and waited at table, took care of the cellars and kitchens, made, 
purchased, did errands; the maidens spun, wove and made garments. The married 
women, maidens, and young children of the Grecian households passed their lives for 
the most part in the private apartments of the home. The matron looked after the 
slaves and management of the house, and the girls were brought up to bestow their 
thoughts and nearly their entire interest on dress and domestic duties. They were not 
allowed to play or associate in any way with boys or men who did not belong to the 
family, not even when they went to public entertainments or religious ceremonies. 
The chief occupation of women, beyond preparing the meals, consisted in spinning and 
weaving. Even the wives of Athenian nobles were busily occupied in this work, either 
using the distaff and spindle themselves or directing their daughters and slave maidens. 
There was plenty of this to do, too, for the clothing of the many members of the house- 
hold was usually all made in the house. The Greek ladies had also great skill in em- 
broidery. There were festive clothes for holy images which were woven and embroidered; 
and the Attic maidens were obliged to weave a peplos for the statue of Athene in the 
Parthenon, for the Panathenaic procession every four years. Into this were woven the 
portraits of men who had achieved noble deeds for Athens or the Greek state. It was a 
great honor to become one of the peploi, as those whose portraits were woven into the 
peplos were called. It was deposited in the holy temple of the goddess, and kept as a 
sort of illustrated chronicle of Athens. Sixteen matrons were bound to weave a peplos 
for the statue of Here at Olympia; and other ladies were obliged to make garments or 
drapery for sacred images in other parts of the country. 

The marriage of a Greek maiden was a very business-like arrangement; the chief 
matters to be considered by an Athenian gentleman, when he proposed to marry, was 
that the lady should be as well born as himself, and have a large dowry. The law did 
not recognize any marriage of an Athenian citizen that was not with a maiden of the 
same city. Sometimes the daughter of a poor but deserving man was presented with a 
dowry by the state or by a number of citizens. At one time it was the lady who received 
rich gifts from the gentleman, but the order was soon reversed, and with the bride a 
present had to be given, partly of cash, partly in clothes, jewelry and slaves. The wed- 
ding and the ceremony of leading the bride from her father's house to her new home was 



Athens. 87 

one of the most interesting of Grecian customs; but before this several forms were care- 
fully observed. Offerings were made to the deities protecting marriage, and other 
special ceremonies attended to. "On the wedding-day, toward dark, after the meal at 
her parents' home was over, the bride left the festivly adorned house, and was conducted 
by the bridegroom in a chariot to his dwelling. She sat between the bridegroom and 
his best man, who was one of the gentleman's relatives or intimate friends. With 
the marriage-car there went a procession of wedding musicians, playing upon flutes and 
harps, while added to this all passers by shouted friendly good wishes. Behind the 
chariot the bride's mother walked, with wedding torches, kindled at the home hearth. 
The bridegroom's house was hung with wreaths of foliage, and at the door his mother 
awaited the procession with burning torches in her hand. The company sat down to a 
wedding meal here, if they had not already done so at the parents' home, and after this, 
the bridal couple retired through the doorway to the hall behind the courtyard, where 
for the first time the lady lifted her veil. For two days the wedding friends sent pres- 
ents, and during this time the lady was not seen without her veil. After that she took 
her place at the head of her husband's household. Boys and girls of a family were 
brought up together until they were about six years old; then they were separately edu- 
cated; the girls were gradually taught all manner of domestic duties, but the boys were 
sent to school. A trustworthy man was chosen from among the siaves of the household 
for the boy; and this man, who was often as worthy a companion as could be found, 
took care of the little fellow in his walks, attended him to and from school, and had a 
general supervision over his ways. The Grecian slaves were not always ignorant, de- 
graded people; many of them were in birth, education, and behavior equals with their 
masters, except that through the misfortunes of their families or their nations they were 
under bonds of servitude. So the boy's companion, who was called his pedagogue, was 
able to instruct him in good manners, and lead his mind in the right direction. An 
Athenian lad had to learn early to wear his garments gracefully, to behave properly at 
table, to keep respectfully quiet in the presence of grown men, and to make room for 
them in meetings upon the street, where he must walk with his head bent, as a sign <^( 
modesty. The pedagogues wore a chiton and cloak, and high-laced boots, ami carried 
sticks with crooked handles, while they wore beards and long hair to make themselves 
look venerable. They had nothingto do with the boys' studies. Theschoolsat Athens 
were not public; they were kept by private teachers, and gave instruction in nr, 
gymnastics, drawing, and what was called grammata, which included reading, writing, 
and arithmetic. The master taught the children to write by forming letters, which the 
pupils copied with a pencil on their tablets. The writing materials in common use then 
tablets covered with wax. A book was formed by joining together several leaves 
of this kind, and single ordouble sheets were in common use for letters, note-books, and 
other requirements of daily life. The pencils were made of metal or ivory, pointed at 



88 Cities of the Ancient World. 

one end, and flattened or bent at the other; so that they could be used both for writing 
and to flatten the surface for future use. There was also a burnisher, which probably 
served to smooth the wax over a whole tablet at once The Egyptian custom of mak- 
ing papyrus into paper was known to the Greek's, but, like the parchment made of hides, 
was a more rare and expensive article. Ink was made of a black coloring substance, 
and kept in a metal stand that was sometimes fastened by a ring to the girdle. Red ink 
was also used, and double inkstands were made for holding the separate kinds of ink. 
Reeds were used for writing on paper and parchment; they were pointed, and split like 
our pens. A man wrote either reclining on the kline or couch, with the leaf resting on 
his bent leg, or sitting in a low arm-chair, with his writing apparatus resting on his 
knee. The boys wrote seated upon the, rising steps where their regular seats at schools 
were made. After the Athenian lad had finished his elementary studies, he began to read 
the great authors of his country. His thoughts were given chiefly to the poems of 
Homer, which he learned by heart, and thus became familiar with the best language of 
his own time or any other age of Greece. This also filled him with a love and pride for 
his nation. The next grade he entered was for instruction in music. Almost every boy 
was taught to understand and appreciate music, and to play well upon at least one instru- 
ment. This was because as he grew older and took part in games, festivals, and great 
battles, he must understand music to feel inspired by it; and the inspiration of gay 
strains or martial chords would help him to do his best in whatever he was attempting; 
and in connection with this study he learned the great lyric poems of his tongue, and 
continued his education in literature. But while a boy's mind was being carefully trained 
in common branches and higher studies, his bodily development was also attended to. 
Exercise was planned, and gymnastic apparatus arranged for the development of every 
limb. A great deal of attention was given to this when a boy was between sixteen and 
eighteen years old; and he had masters in running, wrestling, boxing, and military exer- 
cise to harden and develop the limbs, and to make the man graceful and easy in his 
bearing. The gymnasia of Athens were public institutions, in which the citizens took 
great interest in addition to the support of the government. After this the young 
Athenian was prepared for the duties of life either as a citizen or a soldier. 

The state of Greece made great demands of her men; or her men in their devotion 
to the State made great demands of themselves; their public duties were of first impor- 
tance, and all private interests of last consideration. The result of this was a nation 
which, during the century and a half that it ruled the world, achieved so much that was 
truly grand that it has been the model of nations ever since; yet it was composed of indi- 
viduals of simple habits, who strove not for wealth or fame for themselves, whose elegant 
taste and dignified bearing were not coupled with extravagance, arrogance, or tyranny; 
they all worked together as units for the advancement of a great whole. Great men 
worked in modesty and devotion for the good of the State, in the cause of art, science, 



Athens. 



9 1 



or whatever their cause might be, and when this became successful they too had names 
of undying fame, not like Nero, because he built himself a magnificent house, but for 
the actual benefit their work wrought. It was from citizens of such spirit that the great- 
ness of Greece arose, and that she bequeathed to the world its models in literature, sci- 
ence, philosophy, oratory, sculpture, buildings, and, above all, the first example of a. 
democracy — the free, self-governing state, 
where every right-minded citizen not only 
feels a personal interest but can always take 
a personal part in the affairs of the land he 
lives in; in all matters he has a share, from 
those grave questions that define its position 
among other nations to the details that 
affect the well-being of his own household, 
"The permanent gifts bequeathed by Greece 
to the world make up the foundation of all 
that the greatest of thinkers and scholars 
have been able to accomplish since; " and 
thegreatestmarvel is that these people could 
dosomuchin such a short time; for although 
Grecian history is said to date from about 
eleven hundred years before Christ, it was 
not until 776 b.c. that the real history of 
the Hellenic nation began. Before that time 
the country with its islands was a kingdom; 
the line of rule passed from father to son, 
and the king was priest, general, and presi- 
dent of the popular assembly, supported and 
guided by a council of elders. This time is 
known as the Heroic Age, when the people 
belonged to various tribes, some of which 
were almost constantly at war. But, even 
then, though the Hellenes were barbarians 
like all the rest of the world, they were a 
superior sort of people. They had a landed 
aristocracy; a second class of bards, priests, 

prophets, surgeons, and skilled workmen or artisans, and another middle-class of hired 
workmen, while the poorest people were mildly treated slaves. All were more to be 
respected than the earlier Oriental nations, for they were sober and temperate, dignified, 
with self-respect and good feeling for others in addition to being brave and hardy. 




THEMISTOCLES. 



■Q2 Cities of the Ancient World. 

They were divided into many states, and although all the tribes had a national bond of 
union each had stronger feelings for its native city than for the whole nation. This 
is the reason that the ancient history of Greece is divided into periods of power, centered 
for the time at the most flourishing city of the age. 

It is said that Athens was founded by an Egyptian named Cecrops, and that the little 
city that he built on the hill of the Acropolis was called Cecropia. One of the first 
kings was the celebrated old hero Theseus, who in the thirteenth century B.C. united 
the tribes of Attica, enlarging Athens and making it the chief seat of government. 
There were many great centers among the various states of the Grecian empire, which 
.-are crowded with interest, but among them all Athens stood first. In the Heroic Age 
the rulers were kings; but the people could not endure monarchy; the title of king was 
•changed to archon, or ruler, and there was a senate and council which shared his power. 
Before long this office was held ten years at a time by different nobles, after that there 
was a body of nine archons elected every year, and finally there was a written set of 
laws demanded. Year by year, as the nation grew, the people became less willing to be 
ruled over, and more anxious to rule themselves. The laws they asked for were drawn 
up by one of the archons named Drace, but they were intended to check the independent 
spirit and were so severe that the whole city revolted in a little while, and another archon, 
named Solon, was called upon to make a new set of a laws. These were the foundation 
of the great democracy, and from this time, 594 B.C., the power of Attica began to 
develop, although it had some reverses ; but none to weaken the State, for, when in 
the year 490 B.C. the Persian army of Darius crossed the ^Egean Sea, and landed 
near Marathon on the west coast of Attica, and with much assurance marched a hun- 
dred thousand strong toward the city, they were met on the way, and totally defeated 
by an Athenian force of but a little more than one tenth their number. This victory 
was the beginning of a new era for Greece; it was Athens' first step to supreme power. 
IBefore this Persian power had been thought invincible; now it had been defeated by a 
.small army. The day had been won by Athenian skill, and Attica need no longer fear 
Darius nor Xerxes his son with all their hosts. After ten years another engagement 
■came; it brought on several most bitter struggles, during which Athens was taken and 
burned by the Persians; but they were defeated in the end, and history enrolled fourglo 
TJous conflicts, Thermopylasa, Salamis, Platasa, and Mycale, in which the question between 
Greek freedom and Asiatic despotism was decided forever. To Athens, the chief vic- 
tor at Salamis, and to the warrior-statesman Themistocles, the first thanks were due 

The next half century was the most brilliant period of Athens' existence, and one of 
the greatest eras in the history of the world; although a hundred years more closed 
the chapter of her grandeur, in that short time, at the most two hundred years from Solon 
to Demosthenes, she produced more greatness in every respect that all the later nations 
of the world combined. At the close of the Persian invasion Themistocles was the chief 






Athens. 



93 



man of Athens and virtually at the head of the nation. He had raised the city to its 
importance; he had successfully led its armies; and when he abandoned Athens to the 
torch-lighted Persians it was to save the state; and that gloriously won, he now came 
back, rebuilt its walls and reared a new city finer than the old. A part of the valuable 
pi under taken from Xerxes was devoted to adorning the 
new capital with splendid porticoes, groves, and gardens. 
There had long been two parties among the people; one 
was aristocratic and conservative, wishing to keep the 
government in the hands of the few old Attic families; 
the other was the democracy, believing in equal rights 
and self-government. Themistocles was the champion 
of this party, and had done a great deal to establish this 
form of government; but now that he was in so great 
power, he lost his excellence, and would have plunged 
his country in ruin, but that the people were induced by 
the aristocratic party to take a vote of what was called 
ostracism, by which he was banished. He was "the 
most sagacious, the most far-sighted, the most judiciously 
daring, the craftiest, and unfortunately also one of the 
most unprincipled of politicians; " he would have ruined 
the glorious state that he had done so much to establish 
if he had not been banished and his place taken by some 
one as good as Aristides; for the party spirit ran high, 
and if the conservatives now came forward, but with 
Aristides at their head, they could do no harm; he was a 
true patriot, and was not entirely opposed to the demo- 
cratic form of government. He was called the Just, and 
his pure unselfish love of country, his grand public and 
private integrity and careful measures were a good thing 
for the people. He only lived four years after the ban- 
is'.iment of his rival, and his party, under the leadership 
of Cimon — a wealthy, able, and popular man — did not 
remain in power very long. Cimon was banished by 
ostracism, and Pericles, at the head of the democracy, 
then took his place to Athens and the whole Greek nation. 
The growtli of the city was so wonderful under this man 
that the brightest page of Athenian history is called the Age of Pericles. 

There were splendid buildings reared that have been the world's models of architec- 
ture ever since; on the streets statuary was as common as posts to us; beautiful gardens 





rrs'/'Vi "l ^-^ 



J r ir 



a si 




5- 



am 



1'KKICLES. 



94 Cities of the Ancient World. 

lay in many places; and colonnades filled with paintings and sculpture lined the public 
squares; but the greatness of Athens was more in the people than in the city they built- 
There were scarcely two hundred thousand residents then, and of these only about 
twenty-one thousand were voters; but it was a noble population, comprising the great 
writers, speakers thinkers, and all the first artisans, painters, and sculptors of Greece- 
Music, art, and every opportunity for all branches of education were centered here, and 
the lowest class of people were made to love art, literature, and poetry, under the influ- 
ence and authority of this one great and thoroughly noble man, whose genius was above 
all others, whose knowledge was greater than that of any about him, and yet whose 
-only thought was for the good of the state. Great men surrounded him, and talent was 
at his command on every side; but among them all his majestic figure rose magnificently. 
His stern, quiet, reserved manners had a princely courtesy; he was master of himself 
and all about him; nothing could disturb his self-possession nor alter the tones of the 
sweet voice that rang out in a studied, measured oratory, overpowering in its splendor 
and effect, ruling the thought of the populace as his genius ruled the illustrious city. 
This was the man who for over thirty years stood at the head of that great ancient 
democracy, and saw that its laws were absolutely carried out, while every citizen had 
full liberty to speak and to act; they lived — Pericles himself said — without any envy 
toward their neighbors, under a constitution that made them an example to others. It 
was called a democracy, because it was framed for the good of the many, and not for the 
few. Its laws dealt equally in the disputes of every one; and worth alone gave its 
■citizens positions of dignity and importance; no poverty or humble station kept any man 
t>ack if he had powers that would benefit the State. But the State had no despots: 
■every one had a right to follow his own tastes or pursuits without being disturbed by 
another who looked at things differently; " for we are not angry with our neighbor for 
what he does to please himself; nor do we put on those sour looks which are offensive, 
though they do no positive damage." At the same time there were severe laws against 
real misconduct, which every citizen was afraid to break, and a fine public opinion existed 
against those who wronged another or dealt meanly with an inferior. " Seldom, if ever," 
a celebrated English writer says, " has there been in a statesman of any age such a com- 
bination of great qualities as were united in this illustrious man Pericles; though he was 
an aristocrat by birth he was a thorough democrat in principle and conduct; he never 
stooped in any way to make himself popular, but kept his hold on the people by his 
commanding qualities alone; he never flattered his countrymen except on what was really 
admirable in them, and which it was for their good to be taught to cherish; but he was 
open and severe on their faults and follies, and was never afraid to peril his popularity 
l)y giving disagreeable advice; and when this was not appreciated he would rise up 
against the injustice done him with scornful dignity that was almost defiance. That such 
a splendid man as this so long held the chief place among the people shows what a grand 



Athens. 

body of men the Athenian citizens were. Although they were several tin I by 

circumstances into withdrawing their favor from him, they always hastened to give it 
back; no roan could wean them from his power, nor gain any mischievous influence over 
them. It is impossible to estimate how great a share this one man had in making I 
Athenians what they were. A great man had, in the unbounded publicity of the polit- 
ical life at Athens, extraordinary facilities for moulding his country after his own in: 
and seldom has any people during a whole generation enjoyed such an education as forty 
years of listening to the lofty spirit and practical wisdom of Pericles must have been to 
the Athenian people." Nothing seems to have been beyond his power. Athens became 
celebrated abroad, and was visited by great travelers and noble foreigners; at home it 
stood above every other city, and was without a rival at the head of the whole nation. 
Many states paid tribute to it, and the products of the whole earth were shipped to its 
markets. The city was a common resort, and any one was welcome to it, and to the 
benefit of its opportunities; no citizen nor foreigner was debarred from any lesson or 
spectacle for fear that an enemy should see and profit by it; "for," said Pericles, " we 
trust less to manoeuvres and artifices than to native boldness of spirit for warlike effi- 
ciency." So the councils of the state, the assemblies of justice, and the law courts 
were held in the open air, where the humblest citizen might freely acquaint hin 
with all that went on. The great orations, that have never been surpassed by any orator 
of any age, were here free lectures upon matters not only of special importance to every 
Athenian citizen, but in exposition of laws and principles of justice not confined to any 
state or any people. 

The law courts were held in ten different parts of the city; the seat of justice w; - 
enclosed, but all that went on was in full view of the people, who attended the meeting 
in great numbers. Four times a month a great popular assembly was held in the Pnyx, 
a rocky terrace for great public meetings which stood in the side of a hill situated about 
half a mile west of the Acropolis. This was a sort of amphitheater of seats hewn out of 

solid rock in two terraces. The upper of these was leveled out of rock near 
summit of the hill, and was about sixty-five yards long and half as wide, back of it ran 

•at stone wall, and at the western end a large cubical block was shaped out and kit 
riding, probably for sacrifices offered at the opening of the Ecclesia, or assembl 
is terrace, and separated from it by another wall cut out of the solid rock, 
the lower terrace. In the center this wall made a very obtuse angle, pointing away 
from the upper terrace, and having a stone block larger than the others projecting fl 
it. This is eleven feet square and Ave feet high, standing on a platform of three very 
- at the head of the lower hrnur, which was probably on a level with it. 
This is supposed to have been the celebrated Bema, where the ancient Athenian speaki 

d and addressed great popular assemblies. The larger part of the 1 
probably gathered on the lower terrace, from whence they had a straight-ahead \ 
7 



98 Cities of the Ancient World. 

of the speaker, while some were ranged upon the seats above him. "At these assem- 
blies the men of Athens met to talk over matters of the highest importance and the most 
varied interest. The number of their war ships, the appointment of a stage play, the 
reception of ambassadors, the building of new temples, all these and many other mat- 
ters were discussed and decided in that wonderful democracy of Athens by the great 
body of common citizens." 

Between the eastern end of the hill where the Pnyx stood and the Acropolis, was 
another hill of irregular form, called the Areopagus, or Mars Hill. This also was steep 
and rocky, and was only separated from the Acropolis on the side of the Erechtheum by 
some hollow ground. It was here that the Apostle Paul, centuries later, in the early 
days of the Christian Era, preached to the Athenians, who were inquirers and philoso- 
phers still, but no such men as occupied these seats in the Age of Pericles. At the 
southeastern corner of the rock is a wide chasm leading to a gloomy recess, containing 
a fountain of very dark water. There was the sanctuary of the Eumenides, called by 
the Athenians the Semnce, or Venerable Goddess. The name came from a tradition 
among the Greeks that Poseidon had brought Ares or Mars to this spot to be tried before 
the assembly of the gods, for murdering his son; and perhaps this was also the reason 
why it was selected as a seat of one of the Athenian councils. 

In the early history of Attica it was used by the Senate or Council; and by the ruling 
body called the Council of Areopagus, after Solon, the great Attic law-giver, instituted 
another senate. It was a most venerable assembly, formerly made up only of the chief 
members of the aristocratic party. They sat as judges in the open air, and decided 
between the accuser seated on one block of stone, and the accused, upon another; but 
beside being judges, the Areophagites, as they were called, had a sort of general cen- 
sorship over the citizens. They were all oldish men of high position in the state, until 
the time of Aristides. He changed the rules somewhat, hoping to keep out greater re- 
forms by making slight concessions to the democratic party, and opened the august 
assembly to all classes of citizens; but they were still elected by vote, and the poor 
were kept out of the Areophagus Council, until Pericles came. He broke up the high- 
handed power of the aristocracy and opened the council to meritorious men, who were 
elected by lot, without reference to wealth or family position. It was Pericles' justly 
proud boast that "Our politicians have still their private duties, and our private citizens 
are well informed on public affairs; for we regard the man who keeps aloof from politics 
useless, but not blameless." 

So it came about that in the era of this great man that Greece was placed entirely in 
the hands of her people. The tablets containing the laws of Solon were brought down 
from the Acropolis and set up in the market place, not so much that all might be familiar 
with them, for that was a part of every man's education; but to show that the people 
were their guardians. These laws and constitutions of Solon were the foundation of 



Athens. 



99 



Grecian democracy, because they gave a vote to the lowest or poorest classes, but it was 
the reform of Clisthenes that opened the 
public offices of power to all citizens, and 
established the popular senate of five hun- 
dred. 

He also introduced ostracism, a plan by 
which the Athenians could, by a majority of 
votes, banish for ten years any citizen who 
made himself harmful to the state. But 
although the true beginning of the democ- 
racy was from the time of adopting the 
measures of Clisthenes, he did not pretend 
to do more than alter the constitution and 
laws of Solon according to the demands for 
reform that about a century of progress made 
necessary; and after a quarter of a century 
or more of further progress and develop- 
ment, the basis of the Athenian government 
was still upon the frame-work laid out by 
the great legislator, and had entered into a 
glorious career. The institutions of Clis- 
thenes had given the citizens a personal 
interest in the welfare and grandeur of 
their country, and a spirit of the warmest 
patriotism rapidly sprang up among them. 

The highest court was the Council of 
State or Senate, which was chosen by lot 
every year. The body met on the Areopa- 
gus, and prepared measures, which were laid 
before another, the Ecclcsia or popular as- 
sembly, which met on the Pnyx, and was 
composed out of the mass of citizens, rich 
and poor. Below the Areopagus there was 
held a court of justices elected by lot from 
the popular assembly once a year. The 
auses were tried by divisions of the whole 
body. After framing this constitution, 
Solon made out many laws about private 
life and private rights, public amuse- DEMOSTHENES. 




ioo Cities of the Ancient World. 

ments, slavery, marriage and other matters. These had been preserved for over a hun- 
dred years, and were now brought down from the Erechtheum, and hung in the Agora, 
or market-place, which was the great center of Athenian life. 

In the heroic age the Agora was an assembly of freemen, next in the government to 
the Council; but in the days of the democracy the name was given to the public meeting- 
place, or market; it was to Greece what the Forum was to Rome. The Athenian Agora 
lay at the foot of and between the three hills of the Pnyx on the west, the Areopagus 
on the north, and towering above it on the east was the Propylasa of the Acropolis. It 
was a large, irregularly shaped square, occupying nearly a quarter of the Athenian Asty, 
in the heart of the city; from it great streets ran out like arteries, traversing town and 
country; the highways for travel and traffic for every sort of business in Athens cen- 
tered in the Agora 

The Athenians took great interest and pride in the chief public place of their city, 
and spared no pains to make it stately and beautiful. They surrounded the vast open 
space with colonnaded porticos for meetings; they laid out agreeable promenades and 
set up places of amusement here and there, while temples, altars and a host of statues 
and monuments graced it in every part. In this neighborhood most of the shopkeepers 
and artisans of the city had their places of business, each craft in a distinct section or 
set of booths. One part was noisy and bustling with mountebanks and quack doctors; 
in another were the market for quantities of wheat, barley, flax and oil, the principal 
products of the country, and the cattle markets, for selling the stock pastured on the 
fair hills of Attica and more distant provinces. Widely different from these busy 
throngs of citizens and countrymen, were the quiet, dignified bankers' and money- 
changers' quarters. 

In the shops, in the portico, on the thoroughfares or open squares, in every 
part here was the thick of Athenian business and civic life. All, except the bread- 
sellers and the gay groups of flower girls, were men, for Athenian ladies kept them- 
selves within their homes and out of sight. At one time the men were richly dressed in 
robes that fell to the feet in heavy folds of beautifully embroidered material. The 
hair was usually wound in a knot over the brow, and secured with a golden pin. Be- 
hind, walked a slave, carrying his master's cushioned chair. At night people carried 
torches through the streets to light them on their way, for there was no public sys- 
tem of lighting. In the days of the greatness of Athens both men and women dressed 
in two simple garments; one was a sort of shirt, or under-garment, called the endymata, 
and the other was an outer cloak or dress called the chiton. This was an oblong piece 
'of cloth wrapped in folds round the body; one arm was put through a hole in the closed 
side; the two ends of the open side were fastened over the opposite shoulder with a button 
>bx claspj which were often beautifully wrought in silver or gold, and set with magnifi- 
cent jewels. On the side that the ends came together the chiton was completely open 



4 1 the ns. 



103 





to the waist. Round the hips it was fastened with a ribbon or girdle, and when the 
wearer wished to shorten the skirts of the garment the folds were pulled up through the 
girdle. The chiton of the women was usually more ample than that of the men, and 
sometimes was so long that it hung over the girdle in deep, loose folds, and a portion 
was also turned back and made to hang gracefully over the shoulder. There were at 
different times changes made in the 
size and shape of these garments, but 
for a long time this and the endymata 
were in various forms about the only 
articles of indoor clothing worn by 
Athenian men or women. For out- 
side wear they had also a large gar- 
ment, or cloak, called the himation, 
which was oblong in shape, with a 
border all the way round. It was laid 
across the back, with one corner 
thrown over the left shoulder, and 
the main part of the cloak brought 
across the chest, passing under or 
over the right shoulder; the other 
end was flung over the left shoulder, 
with the corner hanging in heavy 
folds down the back. This could be 
made to completely envelop the fig- 
ure, and the women sometimes ar- 
ranged it to cover head and arms also. 
There were small weights sewed into 
the corners in order to preserve the 
folds and prevent the cloak from slip- 
ping. Usually the Athenian garments 
were white, but the cloaks were often 

brown, and both men and women sometimes wore the brilliant OrientaL colors. Beauti- 
ful patterns were sometimes woven into the material of the dresses, which had also rich 

lers and embroideries sewed on. The citizens were usually bare-headed; caps >• 
worn by travelers, hunters, and workmen much exposed to the sun. Great (.ire was 
taken ot the hair, which was almost always thick and long. The slaves alone had 
short-cropped hair. At home, and even in the streets, men walked with naked feet, 
and when shoes or sandals wen- worn they were removed before entering a house. 
the crowds that filled the Agora and loitered in its porticoes were robed in the Ik 




- 







GREEK MALE HEADS. 



104 Cities of the Ancient World. 

folds of the himation or the graceful chiton. The white figures moved in and out of the 
stately colonnades, gathered in picturesque groups on the squares or strolled along the 
shady promenade. 

"The Athenian citizen was a very sociable person. He rose early, took a light meal 
of bread and wine, and spent all the first morning hours in making calls or attending 
to public business in the assembly or the law-court. At mid-day a sort of substantial 
lunch was taken, and then came gossip in the colonnades, the gymnasia, the Agora, and 
the studios of artists, or a stroll down to the harbor at Piraeus. The principal meal of 
the day was a four o'clock dinner, at which the better classes ate meat, beef, mutton, kid, 
or pork, fish — especially salt fish, wheaten bread, vegetables, fruit, and sweetmeats; 
their drink was wine mixed with water." 

Along the western side of the market-place ran the Stoa Pcecile, a colonnade formed 
by columns on one side and a wall on the other, against which panels were placed, 
decorated with paintings. This Stoa lay between the Agora and the Pnyx; it was de- 
signed in its various sections for public consultations and a general sheltered meeting place 
for public or private business of the citizens. The pictures on the walls represented the 
battle of CEnoe, the fight of the Athenians against the Amazons, the destruction of Troy, 
and the battle of Marathon. One of the most notable buildings that ever stood 
near here was the Tower of the Winds; it was not built until long after the time of 
Pericles, in about 50 b.c. It was a tall eight-sided building with two porticoes and a 
little recess standing out from its smooth regular walls. It was covered by a round roof 
rising to a point, where a pretty capital supported a movable bronze figure of Triton, 
which pointed with its staff to the direction of the wind. Just beneath the edge of the 
roof there was a broad frieze adorned with sculptures representing the eight winds, which 
the Greeks personified; below them the lines of a sun-dial were chiseled into the wall. 
The interior contained a water-clock, which was gradually filled from a reservoir in a 
way that marked the passing of time. Eastward from the Agora ran the street of Tri- 
pods, making a bold sweep around the foot of the Acropolis. It was very handsome, 
with some of the finest public buildings of the city, and formed the favorite promenade. 
Here the great men walked whose names have been household words for ages, and whose 
works and thoughts have lived through the centuries since with powerful influence on 
the whole world. The street had many temples, and was named from the small votive 
shrines which adorned it. Upon their summits the shrines supported the bronze tripods 
which had been obtained in the choragic contest. Sometimes an exquisite statue was 
placed upon the tripods. At first these prizes were set within the sacred precincts of 
the theater; but when this space was filled they gradually extended all along this street. 
Two of the most celebrated theaters in Athens stood not far apart upon this street, and 
in the slope below the Acropolis. Of these, the nearest to the Agora was the Odeum 
of Pericles. As ignorance of music was held by the Athenians to be a disgrace, Peri- 



Athens. 



io : 





cles built this concert hall for the public rehearsals of the choruses which sang at the- 
atrical performances. It was arranged with gradually rising tiers of seats, and covered 
with a cone-shaped roof to retain the sound. This was water-proof, and for that reason 
the Odeum was sometimes used for other performances transferred from the larger 
theaters. The chief Athenian place for dramatic entertainments was the Dionysiac 
Theater, which was at the head of the street of Tripods, and occupied a part of the 
southern slope of the Acropolis. 
The middle of it was made by cut- 
ting out the solid rock; part of this 
was made into the rows of seats that 
rose in ever-widening curves one 
after another, and formed an audi- 
torium large enough to seat all the 
people of Athens and great num- 
bers of strangers beside. It had 
no roof, but an awning was probably 
stretched across the top to keep off 
the heat and the sun. The lowest 
row of seats was a semicircle of arm 
chairs hewn out of blocks of fine 
Pentelic marble, like that with 
which the Parthenon was built. 
These were for men of special dig- 
nity in priestly or civil office. One 
in the center was richly decorated 
with bas-reliefs, and only occupied 
by the priest of Dionysus or Bac- 
chus, the god of the drama as well 
as of other things, in whose honor 
this theater was built, and who was 
here worshiped every March at a 

great festival called the Dionysia. Below the marble arm-chairs was the place of the 
orchestra, in the center of which stood an altar to Dionysus. The orchestra was large 
enough for a great body of musicians, who performed various fantastic- dames besides 
singing in choruses and playing on many different instruments. Beyond the orchestra. 

riding across the straight side of the theater connecting the ends of the tiers of si 
wag the large and stately structure of the stage, like the facade of a large building, with 
columns and other ornamentation above and on either side of the Opening. This was 

'I OUt with scenery for tragedy, comedy, and satires. The plays were very different 





GREEK FEMALE HEADS. 



io6 



Cities of the Ancient World. 



from the performances given in modern theaters. They were introduced as a form of 
worship, and at first were always representations, either funny or serious, of some ex- 
ploits of Dionysus. The chief part of the entertainments of the Dionysiae festivals were 
fantastic dances, given by the chorus. These were sometimes gay, sometimes sad, to 
represent the characteristics of the seasons; the approach of winter, when the vine and 
fruit-bearing trees were dry, was symbolized by grave marches and solemn music; for spring- 
time representations there were quick movements and gay songs; summer was still merrier, 
and autumn, the vintage time, was hailed with great hilarity. Between two hymns a 
leader of the chorus or a speaker, dressed to represent a satyr, would step forward and 
recite some exploit of Dionysus, in either a serious or funny manner. The hymns and 
songs, the dances and recitations were all connected with the "god of pleasure and of 
the vine." After a while an actor, who was not a singer, would hold a dialogue with 
the leader of the chorus, and relate the supposed opinions or exploits of the deity. 
This was introduced by Thespis, in about 53 B.C., and was the beginning of stage plays. 
He was called the father of Greek tragedy; twenty years or so after Phrynichus wrote 
plays from some story of the heroic age of Greece, which were a vast improvement on 
those of Thespis. Phrynichus made out dialogues that were carried on between an 
actor and the leader of the chorus during intervals between the hymns. In a few more 
years there came another, .^Eschylus, who wrote dialogues in poetry, for two actors, and 
so the entertainments on the stage became separate from the chorus, and during the half 
century following it developed to a wonderful degree of art, which has since served as 
a model to all ages of play writers. An important part of stage costumes were the 
masks, which represented different passions or emotions, and were put on and off, as the 
actors assumed various characters that represented classes of men not individuals. 

This great theater full of people must have been a most lively and' imposing sight. 
The spectators used to begin to gather soon after daybreak, and unless they came upon 
the free list, paid their fee and were shown their seats according to the number on their 
tickets by the police of the theater. Before the days of Pericles women went to the 
public entertainments, but at this time it was not thought a proper place for lad es. 
Favorite poets and actors were loudly applauded and showered with flowers; bad per- 
formers were whistled at, and received other tokens of disapproval; the spectators were 
always demonstrative and plainly showed their feelings about the performance or the 
actors; and often broke out into acclamation when a famous person appeared in the 
audience. 

Some distance to the south-east of the theater and the Odeum stood the magnificent 
temple of Olympian Jove, a colossal structure in the Doric style that was not finished until 
over six hundred and fifty years after it was founded. It was over three hundred and 
fifty feet long, and about a hundred and seventy-five feet broad, and was surrounded by 
about a hundred and twenty fluted columns six feet in diameter and sixty feet high, 




,iki i i OP TOMBS in Mill NS. 



Athens. 



109 



arranged in double and triple rows along the front and sides of the oblong structure. 
The temple stood in a sacred grove near the river Ilissus, which ran across the lower 
part of the city at the foot of a range of 
hills just within the south-eastern wall. 
In size, splendor, and beauty this temple 
excelled all other structures in Athens. 
Immense sums of money were expended 
upon it; in the lofty pillar cella was a 
great ivory and gold statue of Jupiter 
or Zeno, by Phidias, that was equal to, 
if not grander, than the celebrated sculp- 
tor's work on the Acropolis. It was 
colossal in size and of most exquisite 
workmanship. Other statues also graced 
the temple; the peribolus was full of 
them; before the pillars stood bronze 
figures representing the cities that were 
colonies of Athens, and upon pedestals 
on the solid white Pentelican pavement 
rare sculptures of Egyptian and other 
marble stood around the sides of the 
enclosure. 

West of the Olypium, about midway 
between the Ilissus and the Agora, rose 
the Museum Hill, shaped like a vast four- 
leaf clover, and in whose sides the early 
inhabitants had made their homes by 
hewing chambers out of the solid rock. 
Below, a street called the Ceramicus, 
entered the Agora on the south-eastern 
side, and crossing it diagonally extended 
into a district of the same name from 
between the Pnyx and Mars Hill. The 
Ceramicus was divided into two sections, 
the Inner and the Outer quarters. To 
the right of the Inner Ceramicus, on a 

height of land north of the Areonacus 

nicu^ub, LYSICRATES MONUMENT. Aim | 

was the celebrated Theseum. It was 

built with the stately pillared front and pediment in the Grecian style, and was des 




no Cities of the Ancient World. 

first as a tomb for the bones of Theseus, one of the early kings of the heroic age, and 
the reputed founder of Athenian greatness'; these remains had been brought from Sycros 
by Cimon, in 469, and a few years later were placed in the Theseum, which was also a 
temple and had the privileges of an asylum, and was sometimes used as a court of 
justice and as a prison. The beautifully proportioned structure was adorned on its 
pediment and frieze with sculptures representing the exploits of Hercules and Theseus, 
and many paintings were upon its walls. It was greatly venerated by the people, and in 
troublous times bodies of armed citizens were detailed to sleep in it. Excepting for 
the loss of some of its ornamentation the Theseum is now standing in almost as perfect 
condition as in the grand old days when it was built. 

The Outer Ceramicus formed a handsome suburb on the north-west of the city, and 
was the burial-place of all persons honored with a public funeral. Some of these tombs 
were magnificent monuments, covered with sculpture and set with pillars of finest work- 
manship. It was the custom to bury soldiers who fell in the cause of their country with 
great ceremony, and at the public expense. For three days before the burial the 
bodies lay in a tent raised on purpose, and kept open to all the relatives of the dead 
men who wished to bring offerings. When the time for the funeral came, the remains 
were placed in cypress-wood coffins, and carried on carts to the graves, followed by a 
procession of citizens, friends, and mourning women, hired to sing woeful songs to flute 
music. After the bones had been covered with earth a wise and respected man, chosen 
by the citizens, took his place on a tribune or temporary platform, and made the funeral 
oration. After this the procession returned to the former homes of the dead men, and 
sat down to a meal. On the third, the tenth, and the thirtieth days after the funeral 
sacrifices were offered up at the grave, and the tomb, adorned with flowers, was always 
a hallowed spot, where on certain days of the year oblations and libations were offered in 
memory of the dead; and prayers were made that his soul might be admitted to Elysium 
or the Happy Land, and not condemned to wander forever on the banks of the Dark 
Stream. Through the Outer Ceramicus there was a road running to the gymnasium and 
gardens of the Academy, which were situated about a mile from the city. On either side 
along the way there were monuments to illustrious Athenians, especially those who had 
fallen in battle. The Academy was a grove or garden, which had been given to Athens for 
a gymnasium by the old hero Academus. There were many gymnasia in the city, but 
this was particularly famous after Plato began to hold his school here. The grounds 
of the Academy were planted with plane trees and olives, and adorned with many statues 
and altars ; there was a temple to Athena in one part, and in another the modest lit- 
tle house of Plato, over the door of which were the words: " Let no one enter who is 
ignorant of geometry." Cimon made the grove very beautiful by putting streams of 
water through it, and laying out shady walks and broad, open drives. Plato built a 
temple to the Muses, where, after the great teacher's death, a statue of himself was 



Athens. 



1 1 1 



placed. The teachings of Plato in this beautiful templed grove were so deep and learned 
that people of ordinary mind did not understand him; but there were several men 
among the Athenians of that day who fully understood and appreciated him, and 
through them, and a wide circle who partially understood him, his teachings spread far 
and wide. His influence upon the 
minds of all who have lived since 
has been very great. Most of his 
teachings were from the ideas of his 
own great teacher, Socrates; his 
greatest thought was to show that 
there is a God who makes all and 
rules all, and that the soul lives for- 
ever. His standard of living was 
very high, and his teachings were 
full of the lofty principles of tem- 
perance, justice, and honor. Plato 
was the finest writer of essays in 
the form of questions and answers; 
his style is a beautiful prose, that is 
so easy and graceful that it is almost 
like poetry; it is now, and it has 
always been, greatly admired and 
studied by scholars and writers. 
The chief object of Plato's life was 
to spread the philosophy of his won- 
derful teacher. 

Socrates lived during a large part 
of the age of Pericles, and is better 
known now in his person, character, 
and teaching than any other man of 
ancient times. He left nothing 
written himself, and all that we 
know of him is from Plato and an- 
other famous writer of those times, 
Xenophon the historian. Beneath 
the most grotesque looks that al- 
most any man ever had, there was the noblest soul described in all ancient nistory. 
His nose was flat, his lips thick, his eyes goggled, his whole face and figure were coarse, 
clumsy, and unpleasant; but he had the soul of a true hero and the mind of a philoso- 




SOCRATES. 



112 Cities of the Ancient World. 

pher. He was a brave and hardy soldier, and devoted his life to benefiting others. 
"With feet unsandaled, and in threadbare dress, he roamed about the public walks, the 
gymnastic schools, the market-place, and every resort of men, talking to rich and 
poor, young and old, in a voice of wondrous sweetness and powerful charm, teaching 
the right way to truth in living and thinking." He had found how to question men 
till they knew themselves what they thought or what they did not think, and so by his 
wonderful power he opened to the eyes of these pagan Greeks the way to truth and 
honesty. He showed them how to know themselves, and how to get rid of wrong notions 
and self-conceit. He taught the principles and showed the importance of morality. 
Wit and intelligence were then thought more of than virtue and honesty; and beauty in 
art and in men and women was worshiped devotedly. It is all right for these things to 
have their place, but that is not the first place, as many sophists or false teachers had 
taught the Athenians to believe, by putting lies in the place of truth and crookedly 
reasoning truth into error. Socrates felt that he must show how false all this was, and 
arouse people to love justice and virtue above all things. He set an example, too, that 
was consistent with his teachings in every act of his life. The Sophists couM not answer 
his arguments, but they brought a charge against him of corrupting the minds of the 
young men of Athens, for there were a great many who gathered around Socrates, and 
followed his teachings. He was tried on the Areopagus, and, although the charges 
could not be proved, he was condemned to die. He refused to run away or stoop to 
anything to save his life. He said the soul would live, and fearlessly drank the cup of 
hemlock poison prepared for him. 

Many of the greatest men of the time took up his teaching, and from two of the best 
writers of his or any other age the whole world has received the benefit of his grand 
thoughts and noble life. Beside the Academic school of philosophy, founded on the 
beliefs of Socrates, and taught by Plato in Athens, there were three others. One was 
the Epicurean, held in the "Gardens of Epicurus," the founder, who for years with 
patience and courage bore a most painful illness, of which he died. He taught that the 
true aim in living was for pleasure, but he did not mean low pleasures; and his own 
temperate, simple manner of living was far from what is now understood as epicurean. 
His idea was that lasting happiness came from pure and noble employments, especially 
from study and intellectual pleasures. These he taught would give peace of mind, which 
he thought was the chief object of life. The Stoic school was taught in the Stoa of the 
Agora, which was adorned by the paintings of the Battle of Marathon. Zeno taught 
here for nearly sixty years, and spread the philosophy of scorning both pain and pleas- 
ure. The last great school of ancient Athens was founded by Plato's great pupil, 
Aristotle. It was called the Peripatetic school, and was held in the Athenian gymnasi- 
um called the Lyceum, which stood in the midst of shady woods and beautiful gardens 
in an eastern suburb of the city. The name of the Peripatetic school came 



. / thens. i i e 

either from the pcripatoi or covered walks of the grove, or from the habit that the 
philosopher had of walking up and down while he gave his lectures — the usual custom 
was to be seated. Although Aristotle was a pupil of Plato, he did not follow his master 
and Socrates in teaching by questions and answers, but gave regular lectures in the 
same fashion as most professors do now in modern schools. He had two sets of classes; 
one to "intimates " a small number of advanced students or men who were themselves 
philosophers and teachers, was held in the mornings; and in the afternoons his grove 
was open to a larger circle of men, called "outsiders." Here for thirteen years the short, 
slender man with his small eyes and brisk manners was the reverenced teacher of the 
most learned men of Athens. His intellect embraced all the learning of his time, his 
activity and earnestness were so great that the subjects of his lectures included every 
topic that could engage men's thoughts. Besides his lectures he wrote a great deal on 
rhetoric, ethics, politics, poetry, and natural history. He was the founder of logic or 
the science of reasoning, and was the developer and originator of scientific methods of 
thinking and learning which have been used by the greatest minds ever since, and are 
now followed almost exactly as he bequeathed them to the world. He lived at Athens 
for twenty years, and there wrote the larger part of his works. At first he was a pupil 
in the Academy under Plato, after that he spent a number of years at the court of Mai e- 
donia as tutor to Alexander the Great. When he returned to Athens he occupied the 
Lyceum, and made it a school of philosophy. 

The lofty hill of Lycabettus — now St. George — rose in grandeur and beauty just out- 
side the eastern wall. It was the crowning feature of the landscape, as Vesuvius is to 
Naples or Arthur's Seat to Edinburgh.* In front of it lay the whole city, with its stately 
temples, its busy streets and squares, its great theaters, renowned gymnasia and modest 
dwellings. In view of its noble crest the greatest commonwealth of Greece flourished 
for two hundred years — the center of good to its country and of good to after genera- 
tions. Far and wide its lines of power swept, for Athens was a proud state with her 
enemies, and as ambitious of conquest and dominion as most nations of antiquity; but, 
unlike nearly every other, it gave to its dependencies a great security from powerful 
enemies; many of them grew rich and prosperous, while no interference was w. 
their home governments; but when they appealed to the Council against the oppression 
of rich and powerful Athenians doing business on their territory, their cause was heard 
and redress given even against a citizen of the capital. But Greece was continually 
disturbed by rivalries among the various states. The supreme power of Attica was not 
:■ e of « omplete national pride; Sparta, and others less important, could not endure 
Mter the death of Pericles a poor government prevailed, and little by little Athe- 
nian allies were drawn away; the glorious state began to wane In spite of a few noble 

* Sec "Great Cities of the Modern World." 



1 1 6 Cities of the Ancient World. 

efforts her power was scattered; the Peloponnesian war came on, and although Sparta 
gained the coveted chief place, it was only to lose it before Philip of Macedon; for when 
the glory of Athens fell that of Greece went too. 

The bane of the Hellenic race was their local pride; they allowed love for their spe- 
cial cities to overpower their allegiance to the nation at large, and it was not until things 
had gone too far, and the hand of Rome had laid an iron grasp upon them, that the 
states discovered the last and greatest principle of a democratic government, Federal 
Union. 

The chief port of Athens was Piraeus, a peninsula at the head of the Saronic 
Gulf. It is about four and a half miles from the capital, and contained three fine natu- 
ral harbors. A large one on the western side was Piraeus proper, or the Harbor, two 
smaller ones were on the eastern side, one of which was called Zea, the other Munychia. 
The last was the nearest to Athens. Before the time of Themistocles the Athenian har- 
bor had been the open roadstead of Phalerum, on the eastefn side of the Phaleric 
Bay, where the sea shore is nearest to Athens; but when the great democrat became 
the leader of the people his genius foresaw that the Attic capital might be made a great 
naval power. He selected the peninsula of Piraeus as a more favorable spot than the 
small point on the opposite shore of the Phaleric Bay; this he surrounded with a wall 
built in the strongest and most durable manner, standing sixty feet high and about fif- 
teen feet thick, vastly greater in height and thickness than those of the Athenian Asty. 
The port thus enclosed was about seven and a half miles around, as large as the Asty, 
with which it was connected by the famous Long Walls. There was also a wall con- 
necting the city with Phalerum, but the long fan-shaped space enclosed between the two 
fortifications was entirely too great to be easily defended, and as the town of Phalerum 
was small and insignificant in comparison with the Piraeus, it and the wall were, soon 
abandoned, while the importance of the peninsula grew year by year. 

The Long Walls extended from a gate in the western side of Athens in a south- 
westerly direction to the head of the peninsula, making a greater reach than lay between 
the Asty and the Phalerum; this is probably the reason they were called "Long." 
They extended in two parallel lines, the north wall and south wall, with a space of 
about five hundred and fifty feet between. A roadway ran through the center, flanked 
on either side by closely built rows of houses; all day long it was thronged with laborers, 
merchants and travelers. It was always a busy, lively scene; and many Athenian idlers 
made a point of strolling down the Long Walls during the afternoon to " see the sights," 
while many more were constantly passing to and fro on matters of business. Beyond 
the North Wall there lay a fine wood of olive trees, and toward the old Phaleric fortifi- 
cation beyond the South Wall was a stretch of cultivated vineyards. These walls were 
built after the plan of Themistocles, but in the time of Pericles, who also laid out and 
built up the Piraean peninsula as a town. The height nearest to Athens, skirted on that 



Piraus* 1 1 7 

side by a continuation of the South Wall and overlooking the Phaleric Bay from the 
west, was called Munychia. It was occupied by the citadel, and in a military point of 
view was the most important part of Piraeus. The entire peninsula was rocky and a 
sort of natural fortification; its safety was further increased by the walls and crowned 
by the lofty Acropolis. The small harbor below was occupied by fleets of war ships, and 
in the rocky sides of the hill toward the land there were temples and a theater, beyond 
which was a large oblong market-place called the Hippo damcia?i Agora. 

A short distance below the south side of this market place was the head of the Zea. 
This lay at the south side of Munychia, and was also a naval harbor; it was quite a 
broad and sheltered bay, with a narrow inlet guarded by promontories, with the solid wall 
of the peninsula following the irregular outline of its shore. The Munychian inlet was 
further up the coast, but both opened upon the safe waters of Phalerum Bay, and were 
but portions of the roadstead that was anchoring ground for the great Athenian navy. 

It was the dream of .Themistocles to make Athens the greatest maritime and com- 
mercial power in Greece; and for this he opened dock-yards and built arsenals: he en- 
couraged the people to raise an immense fleet, and to keep the navy- in excellent condi- 
tion by increasing it every year. History has many pages filled with the successes of 
his wise management, the conquest of the Athenian ships and feats of the skillful, 
hardy seamen. 

The art of ship-building was originated so long ago that there are no records of a 
time when it was unknown. The Greeks believed that ships were first built by the gods; 
but the world owes the development of seafaring vessels to the Hellenes themselves. 
They improved on rafts and dug-outs, by making sailing craft and great row-boats with 
flat bottoms, sometimes with one row of oarsmen, sometimes with two, one bank sitting 
above the other. After or during the time of Themistocles, larger boats were made 
and the number of tiers of rowers increased even to ten, who made their vessels fly over 
the water with great swiftness. The entire eastern portion of the peninsula of Piraeus 
was devoted to the ship-yards, navy, and citadel, while the western and upper part, with 
the large sheltered harbor, was given up to business and commerce and was known as 
the Emporium. The Agora lay between the foot of the citadel and the easterly shore 
of the harbor; it must have been a busy scene of merchants and porters, business men 
and workmen passing to and fro or collected in little groups, buying and selling or 
talking over their affairs. 

Across the shallow upper end of the harbor there was a long wall or pier, and along 
the eastern shore, connected with it, there was a long portico, which was used for storing 
and selling corn. Piranis was a shipping as well as a receiving port, ami this torn 
market was stored with products of home and foreign raising, There were other por- 
ticos along the shore, particularly one called Deigma, where samples were shown of 

goods on sale, and where, also, bankers and money-changers had offices. The porticos 



n8 Cities of the Ancient World. 

and squares were spacious and finely built, but the streets were narrow and rather neg- 
lected. The population was several thousand probably, but this was included among 
the number of people mentioned as living in Athens, for while Piraeus was distinct from 
the Asty, both were often included in the name of the capital. The fortifications ex- 
tended so as to include quite a strip of land on the west shore of the harbor, and an- 
other little bay outside the entrance. There were ancient sepulchres standing here, and 
at the end of the narrow strip of land that ran out between the little bay and the mouth 
of Piraeus the altar-like Fount of Themistocles was set up by his countrymen. They 
respected his memory for the great things he had done and forgave his treachery after 
he was gone. The Athenians owed this grand harbor to him, and could not have 
selected a better spot on which to place his monument. 

West of Attica an irregular strip of land connected the main part of Greece with a 
large peninsula called Peloponnesus. This comprised almost one half of the territory 
of Greece, and but for the isthmus which lay between the gulfs of Saronica and Corinth, 
it was entirely surrounded by water. About midway between the gulfs, where they come 
nearest together and at a point where the neck of land seems to join the peninsula, stood 
the famous city of Corinth. It is said to have been founded in about the year 1350 B.C., 
but its time of importance was half a dozen centuries later. Its citadel, or the Acrocorinthus y 
stood on a great rocky hill, almost two thousand feet high; a vast ravine separated it from 
a range of mountains on the north, and helped to make it " the most gigantic natural 
citadel in Europe, beyond comparison with both the Acropolis of Athens and the for- 
tress of Gibraltar." At the base of this, on a broad rock, nearly two hundred feet 
above the level of the isthmus, lay the city. It was about four miles in extent, full of 
people, wealth, business, and amusements. It was called the city of the two seas, and 
it had two harbors. Lechasrem was on the western bay, and Cenchreas was on the 
eastern; they were filled with ships, and controlled a great part of Grecian commerce at 
one time, for although it could not claim the importance of the port of Athens, it had a 
flourishing trade of its own, and was in a favorable place for the meeting of northern 
and southern commerce. There was a contrivance of trucks or sledges for hauling the 
galleys from one sea to another across the neck, which was very useful, and made Cor- 
inth a great stopping place. The people were ingenious and industrious, they amassed 
great wealth, and used it liberally in improving and beautifying the city with much taste 
and luxury. Being situated at the very gate of the peninsula, it was able to take an 
important part in the great Peloponnesean war, which was between Sparta, the most pow- 
erful state of the peninsula, and Athens. Corinth joined against the capital, and ally- 
ing itself closely to Sparta, furnished the larger part of the fleet against the Athenians. 
This contest lasted for about twenty-seven years, it began soon after the death of Peri- 
cles, the great Athenian leader, and ended with the fall of Athens. And, although it 



Myccnce. 1 2 1 

gave the chief power of Greece into the hands of Sparta for a few years, it was the 
cause of the downfall of the whole country. But from it the world gained the noble 
work of the historian Thucydides, who described in a masterly manner the various 
changes and events in the great struggle, as he himself saw them. 

After a while Corinth became jealous of her great ally, and leagued with other Gre- 
cian states against Sparta. This resulted in the Corinthian war; a peace was made, and 
Corinth aided Sparta when her strife with Thebes led to another war, and the downfall 
of the Theban supremacy, as it is called in history. A while after Corinth became a 
stronghold of the Macedonian conquerors, and later it was the center of the Achean 
league, which was formed against the Romans. In revenge for this, when the Roman 
conquerors reached the " opulent city " they totally destroyed it. The glory of ancient 
Corinth was thus ended; for a century the beautiful city lay in ruins. In the early 
years of the Christian era, Julius Cassar rebuilt it, and once more it became prosperous 
and powerful, and the scene of many important events; but it never reached the height 
of its former glory. 

On a craggy height in about the center of Argolis, a province of Peloponnesus, ad- 
joining Corinth, was the ancient city of Mycenae. It was founded by Pelops, a native 
of the Grecian territory of Phrygia in Asia Minor, and was the capital of the kingdom 
of Agamemnon, one of the most renowned dynasties of the heroic age of Greece. It 
was then the chief city of the country, and its strong old walls and mighty buildings 
were among the noblest in the old world. The citadel occupied an eminence stretching 
from east to west, which formed a great platform about a thousand feet in length, and 
half that in width. Around it were massive walls, at its foot flowed two mountain tor- 
rents. No projecting towers or huge buttresses broke the even line of the walls, except- 
ing at the two gates, where there were two structures that served as sort of high guard- 
houses and set out from the right hand side of the gates in such a way that the sword 
arm of the besiegers outside, was directly in the way of missiles from the soldiers inside 
the gates. The principal entrance was the western gate, above the lintels of which there 
were decorations that still remain, and are famous as the most ancient pieces of sculp- 
ture in Greece. From them the entrance has been called the Gate of Lions, and beneath 
them passed the forefathers of the Hellenes, when they were a semi-barbarous people 
like all the rest of the world. 

There is no real history of Mycenae, it rose, flourished and fell into ruins before the 
art of writing history was known. But, in about 500 B.C., before the people had for- 
gotten the legends or stories connected with the great city, and the events of those 
times, called the Heroic Age, they were written out as dramas, by a poet named 
^schylus. He did not attempt to put them down for truth, so we cannot fee] that tin- 
knowledge he gives us is near as good as history, but at least, it has preserved a great 
deal, and saved Mycenae from entire oblivion. Agamemnon, the king of Greece, whose 



122 Cities of the Ancient World. 

capital was here, was a great figure in Homer's poem of the Iliad, or Siege of Troy; so, 
from that we have another part-legendary record of the Grecian customs of those far off 
times, and in the works of these two writers we have also some of the most beautiful 
poetry that ever was written. 

On the western coast of Peloponnesus there was a state called Elis, which was cele- 
brated for having the greatest of all temples to Jupiter, or Zeus, and as the scene of the 
Olympic games. The beautiful plain where these took place was in about the center 
of Elis, it was dotted with hills and temple-groves, and through it ran the celebrated 
river Alpheus. This state raised scarcely anything of importance, and never took any 
very active part in Grecian politics; it was a sacred land of peace; armies were com- 
pelled to lay down their arms before passing through it, and when the festivals were 
held, members of all the States met there as friends, even in times of war. The custom 
of holding the games at Elis in honor of Zeus began in the year b.c. 776, and from that 
time the Greeks reckoned years by Olympiads, or periods of four years from one festival 
to the next. This has been a very important feature in Greek history, because before 
then no regular dated records of all the country's events had been kept; but now when 
a circumstance was set down, it was as having happened at a particular time in the first, 
second, third, or fourth year of some specified Olympiad. All Greeks took a deep in- 
terest in these festivals; every state sent embassies, who came in the greatest splendor, 
and people gathered from far and near by th6usands. There were more than Olympia 
and all the surrounding villages could accommodate; so buildings were erected, huts built, 
tents pitched, and in a few days the plain was skirted by a mushroom city, active and 
bustling, with tradesmen of all kinds, as long as the games lasted. Then it vanished, 
for none except priests, servants, and watchmen might dwell on the ground consecrated 
to the " father of gods and men." 

Where the Alpheus issues forth from the mountains to wind its course through the 
plain of Elis to the sea, stood the temple of Zeus, the chief of the gods; it was at some 
distance from the right hand of the stream; and from it, stretching down to the sea, 
and along the shore, was the walled and sacred grove called Altis, the place of festivals 
and shrines, of statues and dedicated gifts, of treasuries and countless monuments and 
figures commemorating the victors; it was adorned by eminent artists with marble stat- 
uary and figures. In the inner shrine is the wondrous work of Greek sculpture, the 
colossal figure of the Olympian Zeus, adorned with gold and ivory, at the feet of which 
victors received their crowns. 

Other temples stood in the grove, with great colonnaded galleries and rich porticoes, 
while baths, auditorum and race-course and countless statues of victors were gathered 
about in the vicinity. The games took place in the stadium, a great open space sur- 
rounded by tiers of seats; the contests were open to men of any rank, so long as they 
were born Greeks, and consisted of wrestling, boxing, jumping, running, and throwing 



Sparta. 125 

quoits and javelins. There were also horse races and chariot races, that displayed the 
most magnificent animals and finest horsemanship in the country. The only prize given 
by the judges to the conqueror was a garland of wild olive; but he who won this ft-lt 
that he had secured one of the greatest treasures of life. It was the ambition of the 
noblest youths of the land to receive this simple token and have their names proclaimed 
as victor before the great assembly of Elis. He was then looked upon as conferring 
everlasting glory on his family and country; his fellow-citizens took pleasure in paying 
him greatest honor; his statue was put in the Altis, or sacred grove, and when he re- 
turned to his native city the people met him with a triumphant procession, and as he 
passed with it through the streets his praises were sung in the loftiest strains of poetry. 
From that time, according to the customs of some states, he had a right to the front 
seat at all public games and shows, a place by the king in battle, and from the city he 
received a gift of money and freedom from all taxes. 

The greatest inducements were offered by the laws of Sparta. This was the most 
war-like of the Grecian nations, and excelled all others in its attention to exercise, 
games, and every institution for making its men strong, powerful and skillful warriors. 
It was situated on the southern shore of the peninsula, and, after the fall of Athens, 
ruled Greece for thirty-four years, from 405 to 371 B.C. The capital of the state was 
also called Sparta. Although this city once ruled the Peloponnesus and the greater 
part of Greece, it was not famous for its appearance nor the way in which it was built. 
It had not the splendid buildings nor magnificent adornments for which other ancient 
cities were renowned, and it lacked the luxuries which made attractive its rival cities in 
other parts of Greece. If the inhabitants had deserted their homes and only the vacant 
buildings and silent streets had remained in it, one would have dreamed of its having had 
as great power and as wide an influence as Athens, for example. Yet, after the fall of 
Athenian rule, Sparta or Lacedaemon was the leading state in Greece. Its greatness 
was not like that of its great rival; it was its military power, due to rigid laws and the in- 
stitutions, the customs and the habits of a people who directed all their energies toward 
being supreme in war. In the very earliest times the government was carried mi by 
two kings, .who ruled together with equal power and authority, and this continued 
through the rule of fifty-seven pairs of princes. Finally, Lycurgus, the great law-giver, 
who really may be said to have founded the famous state of Sparta, was made king, 
ruling alone; but he only reigned for eight months. Becoming dissatisfied with the laws 
of the country and the way in which they were enforced, he kit the throne to others, 
and traveled about the world studying and comparing the different nations, and plan- 
ning a model government. Returning to the city after some time he at once ah- 
the whole constitution, and got thirty of the most prominent citizens to help him in 
putting the new laws in force. The first and most important thin- LycurgUS did was to 
form a senate which shared in the power of t he kings, and had equal authority with 



126 Cities of the Ancient World. 

them. This body, which had twenty-eight members, was intended to look after the good 
of both the kings and the people. There was also an assembly of all the citizens, which 
met now and then to accept or reject what might be proposed to them by the senate or 
kings. In addition to all this, there were five men called Ephors, elected every year by 
the people, from their own number, who had a great deal of power, and who in later 
times ruled Sparta themselves without the other officers. Having made these arrange- 
ments, Lycurgus next made a new division of the lands, so that everybody might be per- 
fectly equal in their possessions and way of living. He made nine thousand lots for the 
city and thirty thousand for the district of which it was the capital, and gave each man 
or woman with a family one of these lots; every one had just enough property to live 
comfortably, but no more, so that there were no poor people in Sparta so long as these 
laws were in force. In order to keep out luxury and extravagance, gold and silver coins 
were abolished, and only iron money was used; as it took a great quantity and weight 
of these coins to make any value, very little buyina and selling was done, and only 
necessary articles, like beds, chairs, and tables were manufactured. ^ Every one ate in 
common at public tables in Sparta, and only the coarsest kinds or food were allowed; 
about fifteen persons sat at a table, and each of them had to bring in every month a 
bushel of meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two pounds and a half of 
figs, and a little money to buy flesh and fish. The private houses of the city were very 
simply built, the law being that the ceilings should be made with no tool but the axe, 
and the doors with nothing but a saw. Among the most interesting and peculiar cus- 
toms of the Spartans was the training of the children, which, though barbarous and cruel, 
was intended to make them strong and healthy. All the sickly and deformed babies 
were thrown into a deep cavern near a mountain called Taygetus, and only the strong 
and well proportioned infants were allowed to live. The boys, as soon as they were ten 
years old, were placed in companies, where they were all kept under the same order and 
discipline, and had their exercises and games together. As for learning, they were only 
taught what was absolutely necessary; their principal education was intended to make 
them obedient to command, to endure hard work, and to fight and conquer. In battle 
the Spartans never showed any fear, and much preferred to be killed than to run from 
an enemy. ^ 

The population of the city and country was divided into three classes: the Spartans, 
the Periceci, and the Helots. The first named did nothing but govern the state and 
practice the arts of war; they were always natives of the country; the Periceci were next 
in rank, and had nearly the same position as the Spartans. The Helots were the slaves; 
people of other nations who had been conquered by the Spartans; they did all the farm- 
ing, besides being servants to the other classes and helping them in war. As these 
Helots increased in number they revolted from time to time, and many of them were 
put to death. Such were the simple and severe customs of the inhabitants of Sparta, 



Sparta. 



129 



and it can be easily seen why the city never excelled in learning, and science, ami 
art, as did other great cities of the ancient world. Notwithstanding the simplicity of 
the Spartan habits, you must not think that the city had no handsome public buildings. 
The temples of the gods were built with considerable magnificence, and on the Acrop- 
olis were several fine structures, chief among which was a temple entirely covered with 
plates of bronze or brass, on which various scenes of ancient fables were represented. 
The Agora of Sparta was a spacious square, surrounded, like other Greek market-places, 
with colonnades, from which the streets issued to the different parts of the city. Here 
were the public buildings of the magistrates, the council house of the senate and the 
offices of the Ephors. The Agora contained statues of Julius Csesar and Augustus; 
there was a place called the Chorus, marked off from the rest of the Agora, where the 
Spartan youths had dances, and wrestling and sparring matches. 




MILTIADES. 



EGYPTIAN CITIES OF THE NILE. 

THE granary of the ancient world from the time of the Jewish patriarchs to the 
downfall of the Roman empire, was Egypt. It was here, and in southwestern Asia, 
that the true history of the civilized world is said to have begun. The Egyptian na- 
tion is the earliest of those of which we have any certain records of government and politi- 
cal institutions. The country was long ago divided into two parts, Upper and Lower Egypt. 
Both extend along the region of the Nile; Upper Eygpt being the most southerly, and 
Lower Egypt reaching to the Mediterranean shore. The earliest history of the country 
is rooted in Lower Egypt; here was the seat of the most powerful ancient monarchies, 
and here the two most important cities of the entire continent of Africa now stand.* 
The first capital founded by an Egyptian king is said to have been Memphis, estab- 
lished by Menes, at perhaps about four thousand years before Christ. This was situated 
in the Nile Delta, near the site of modern Cairo, and was built upon a huge tract of land 
redeemed by Menes from the river, who turned the main stream of the Nile from its old 
course under the Libyan hill into a more westerly channel, which he cut on purpose. 
At the point where the stream was turned off he built up strong dikes, and spared no 
pains to secure the site of his city from any overflow. Altogether this was a very im- 
portant and elaborate piece of engineering, for beside making a new course for the river, 
Menes formed the old bed into a canal to carry a safe quantity of water to a large lake 
on the north and west of the city. About eleven miles below the great dikes the mon- 
arch raised the walls of his new capital. The site had fine natural protections in the 
Libyan and Arabian chains of mountains, which were a defense against the river and 
the inroads of the sand, as much as against the robbery and pillage of wandering Asiatic 
tribes; but these did not cut the city off from trade with other countries. There was 
direct communication with the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean. 

Memphis stood just below where the valley broadened and above the opening to 
the Delta, commanding the passage between Upper and Lower Egypt — a fitting place 
for the capital of the whole country. It probably occupied all the space of about three 
miles between the river and the hills. An ancient historian says that the circuit around 

* See description of Cairo and Alexandria in " Great Cities of the Modern World." 




TYPES WD COSTUMES OF I IRLY GRECIAN I. IKK. 



A I on phis. 



i ;i 



it was over seventeen miles. It was built with three enclosures, the innermost 

citadel; this was surrounded with fortifications of a sort of 

limestone, and was called the "White Wall," or "the white 

building," from which the capital was sometimes known as the 

" City of the White Wall." Other names also were given, but 

it was most always called Memfi, " the place of good," from 

which we have Memphis. 

Part of the space within the fifteen-mile circuit was oc- 
cupied by gardens, villas, sacred groves, and in one quarter 
lay the great Acherusian Lake of Menes, which was sur- 
rounded by meadows and canals. The lake probably lay on 
the north and west of the city proper, while the river — at some 
distance away — extended on the east side; a canal probably 
ran from it to a large reservoir belonging to the chief temple 
of the city, the shrine of Ptah, or Vulcan, where the sacred 
Egyptian bull called Apis lived. This is said to have been 
built by Menes, to Ptah or Hephaestus, the god of creation, 
whose spirit lived in a white bull. It was enlarged and beau- 
tified very much by the monarchs that followed, and in the 
course of time because such a stately and notable building that 
it was greatly admired by the Grecian travelers Herodotus 
and by Diodorus, who visited it in about the time of Julius 
Caesar, and were familiar with magnificent architecture in their 
own land and in Rome. Its massive gateways were covered 
with the flat-looking sculptures of Egyptian art, and were 
guarded by two mighty statues of granite and limestone, which 
were about fifty feet high. One of these, the famous Colos- 
sus of Rameses II., is still in existence, lying on its face in 
the sand, with a hollow dug around it, so that it may be exam- 
ined. Beyond the majestic portals were vestibules and halls, 
adorned with statuary, and set with shrines. Outside courts 
were built adjoining with lofty carved figures in the place of 
columns, supporting the roof. In one of these Apis, or the 
sacred bull, was kept when exhibited in public. Rich gifts 
and thank offerings of fine sculpture adorned it in every part. 
The most celebrated of these was a statue of Sethos, in com- 
memoration of his victory over the Assyrians. He held a 
mouse in his hand, with this inscription: " Whoever sees me, ancient egypti 

let him be pious." Amasis, too, placed a colossal statue here, which was sev 




AN VASE. 

enty-livc 



132 Cities of the Ancient Wortd. 

feet long, and is famous for its position as well as its size; the figure was represented as 
reclining, and no other statue of that time is known to have been placed in that way. 

There were many other magnificent temples in the city, for the ancient Egyptians 
were among the most religious people of antiquity. A distinguished preacher says: " In 
Egypt life was the thing sacred; all that had life was in a way divine, the sacred ibis, 
crocodile, bull, cat, snake, all that produced and all that ended life; death, too, was 
sacred. The holy animals were preserved in myriad heaps through generations in 
mummy-pits. The sovereign's tomb was built to last for thousands of years." The 
Egyptians had several deities in different forms. One of the most celebrated was sup- 
posed to live in Apis, the sacred bull, which was kept and worshiped at Memphis in 
a temple of its own, which was either close to or adjoining that of Vulcan. The fes- 
tival in honor of Apis lasted seven days, and was an occasion when hundreds of strangers 
came to the city. Through the streets the priests led the bull in a solemn procession; 
every one went out of their houses to welcome him as he passed. They pressed as near 
as they could, and would have their children smell his breath if possible, for that was 
thought to give them the power of foretelling future events. When Apis died, some 
priests were chosen to go out in search of another, which they knew by certain signs 
given in the sacred books, for when one Apis died the divine spirit was believed to pass 
into another creature of the same kind, which the priests must find. As soon as they 
found one with all the sacred marks upon it, they took it to Nilopolis, or the City of the 
Nile, and after keeping him there forty days, they put him on a boat with a golden 
cabin prepared to receive him, and conducted him in state down the Nile to Mem- 
phis, where he had a temple-home which was very comfortable for him beside being 
beautiful, with large fine grounds adjoining. Some of the ancient historians tell us that 
the sacred books lay down twenty-five years as the length of time that the Apis should 
live, and that when his time was up, he was led to a fountain of the temple and drowned 
with a great deal of ceremony. His body was embalmed, and a grand funeral proces- 
sion took place at Memphis, when his coffin, placed on a sledge, was followed by priests 
dressed in the spotted skins of fawns, and bearing in their hands a staff entwined with 
ivy and ornamented on the end with a bunch of vine leaves, ivy, grapes, or ber- 
ries. Sometimes the Apis died a natural death, and then, too, he was embalmed and 
buried with great pomp and most magnificent ceremonies; lamentations were made and 
mourning kept up throughout all the city until another was found. The Egyptians not 
only paid divine honors to the animal, but considering that a wise and powerful god 
dwelt in him, they consulted him as an oracle, and were guided by the omens that his 
actions were thought to give. 

Close to the temple of the living bull, was the place of sepulchres for those dead; 
this is now called the Serepeum. It consisted of a group of temples dedicated to dif- 
ferent deities, and was reached by an avenue of large carved figures called sphinxes. 



Memphis. 



133 



It was very extensive, and had many distinct 
parts, the most remarkable of which was 
occupied by underground tombs filled with 
mummies of all the sacred animals that had 
died from about 1400 to about 175 b.c. They 
filled galleries and many large chambers, and 
some of them were in magnificent granite 
coffins or sarcophagi. These were sometimes 
twelve feet high and fifteen feet long, and 
bore a stone tablet dedicated to the bull which 
it enclosed, and telling in whose reign he 
was born or discovered, who was on the throne 
when he was placed in the temple at Mem- 
phis, and in the time of what ruler he died. 
These records have made the apis tablets 
very important in fitting together the dates 
and sovereigns of the early Egyptian dynas- 
ties. Other slabs of historical importance 
were placed upon the tombs as a sort of votive 
offerings. About thirty years ago they were 
discovered by a celebrated Frenchman, and 
were removed to the museum of the Louvre 
at Paris. There was an order of monks or 
priests who lived in the Serepeum, keeping 
the sacred records and performing other relig- 
ious duties. Menes is said to have been the 
first religious teacher of the primitive Egyp- 
tians, and he also introduced the custom of 
having feasts, and set the example of having 
luxurious and magnificent houses. 

According to a great ancient Egyptian 
historian Memphis was the seat of five early 
dynasties, which lasted for many centuries. 
During this time the city grew more and 
more flourishing, palaces, public buildings, 
temples, gates and porticoes of grand design 
and solid architecture in red and white and 
yellow stones and marbles were raised and 
embellished with beautiful decorations and 
furnishings. There are remains showing 




GALLERY IN THE CHEOPS PYRAMID. 



1^4 Cities of the Ancient World. 

these people had a great deal of skill and taste. They had elaborate vessels of 
bronze and many costly articles of jewelry; but we know more of their religion and 
burial customs than of their every-day life. They lived in the contemplation of death. 
An Egyptian's coffin was made in his lifetime; his ancestors were embalmed; and a 
sovereign's tomb was built to last for thousands of years. The most remarkable part 
of Memphis was the necropolis or city of the dead, in the center of which towered the pyra- 
mids, those high and massive monuments which for ages have been among the wonders 
of the world. There are seventy of them now to be seen in different parts of Egypt; 
but the most remarkable are the nine that were set up in the necropolis of Memphis, 
a place not far from Cairo, now called Gizeh. The first act of an Egyptian king, as 
soon as he came to the throne, was to begin building his " eternal abode." The tombs 
were partially made by digging a chamber out of the solid rock, and then finished by 
making a huge stone monument above. At first a slanting shaft or opening, like the 
entrance to a mine, was sunk in the solid rock. This was as large as the monarch in- 
tended to have his coffin or sarcophagus, and had no rule of length, but ended at some 
chosen depth, where a square chamber was made in the solid rock and highly finished 
with sculpture and paintings on the walls. Now at any time, if the king should die, his 
remains could be let down in a sealed stone coffin; but so long as he lived the work on 
his tomb continued. Over the chamber for his sepulchre the natural rock was leveled 
off, and the building of the pyramid began by laying masses of masonry and square 
blocks of stone, quarried out of the earth close by. The mouth of the shaft was kept 
open, but year after year the monument grew in height and in breadth, each section 
or layer of stone and masonry being kept a size broader than that above it, so that it 
was always a pyramid of huge steps. At the monarch's death, long blocks were laid on 
each step, and all four surfaces were cut smooth from summit to base, and touched up 
with an outer dressing of masonry. With great ceremony the embalmed and mummied 
body of the monarch in its sculptured and painted sarcophagus, was let down the shaft, 
and placed in the hollow chamber of the rock. Then the opening was carefully pro- 
tected by stonework, and the entrance filled up. The shaft opening faced the north, 
and had a stone door ornamented with Egyptian sculptures and hieroglyphs. The 
amount of labor and skill it required to build even the simplest of these monuments has 
been a mystery to all people of later ages; but the work of the Great Pyramid is a piece 
of engineering that fills even the wisest and most learned of modern engineers with won- 
derment and awe. This is in every way larger than any of the other pyramids. It cov- 
er twelve acres of ground, and its slanting sides come to a point at a distance of four 
hundred and eighty feet above the base. The Washington Monument in the United 
States, and next to that the Cologne Cathedral in Europe, are the only loftier structures 
in the world. It was started with one underground chamber on the usual plan, but it 
was necessary to make eight other rooms before the monument was finished, to relieve 



Memphis. 



137 



the bearing of the great masses of stone. This noble monument is said to have been 
built for king Cheops, who died about two thousand years before Christ. His sarco- 
phagus was not set in the first chamber, which was almost fifty feet long, nor in the sec- 
ond, or ''queen's chamber," which is rather smaller and built in the pyramid itself; 
but in a third room, lying beyond that and occupying the center of the great monument. 




THE ROCK TEMPLE. 

It is reached by an inclined passage that ends in a level corridor, beautifully finished 
in red granite, and opening after a short distance upon the place of the royal sepulchre. 
The heat here would have been stifling if those wonderful old builders had not extended 
two small air-channels or chimneys through the stone and masonry to the surface; 
they are about nine inches square, leading to the north and south sides, and giving 



138 Cities of the Ancient World. 

perfect ventilation. Cheops reigned about fifty years, and so it is believed that the 
hundred thousand men employed upon his tomb were kept steadily at work for half a 
century. 

The second great pyramid stands on higher ground than the first; it was built for 
king Suphis II., who, we are told, reigned sixty-six years; the third is over two hundred 
feet high, and beside that there are six others that have stood here in silence 
since two thousand years before Christ, bearing testimony to the skill of those who built 
them, and treasuring up the pictured customs of past ages. The sculptures represent par- 
ties, boat scenes, fishing, fowling, and other ordinary occupations of daily life in ancient 
Egypt. The art of embalming or preserving the body after death was invented by the 
Egyptians. They seem to have believed that as soon as any one died his soul went on 
a long journey, and that after three or ten thousand years it would return to the body 
and dwell in it again. For this reason they preserved the body by removing certain 
parts and putting in spices and salts that keep it from decaying. After that, it was 
steeped in carbonate of soda for seventy days, and was wrapped up in linen cemented by 
gums. The best process cost about as much as would be equal to thirty-five hundred 
dollars of our money; but there were cheaper ways than this, for all classes, even crim- 
inals, were embalmed, and their bodies were often kept at home or in public places for 
some time before being placed in the sepulchre. 

One of the celebrated and really important objects in Memphis was a Nilometer or 
measurer of the Nile, which registered the height of the river, and was held in charge by 
special officers. Some historians say that this was movable; it was probably the first that 
was ever built, and was the model upon which later architects improved when they built the 
Nilometer which now stands near the site of the ancient city on the island of Rhoda oppo- 
site Old Cairo. Both the measurer and the island are in a partially ruined and neglected con- 
dition now. There was once a beautiful garden here, with abundant water, tall palm trees, 
rich-colored Egyptian plants and thickly growing graceful rushes. The Arabs say that 
it was among the reeds of Rhoda that Pharaoh's daughter found Moses floating in the 
wicker basket. Near the spot they point out there is a tall oalm with a smooth white 
trunk, called " Moses' tree." At the southern end of the island the Nilometer is situ- 
ated in the garden of a house. It is made up of a square well or chamber, which used 
to be covered by a dome, and into which the Nile waters come from below. In the 
center there is a slender pillar marked off into seventeen cubits. A cubit measure is 
equal to about fourteen inches. On each side of the well, which is about eighteen feet 
square, there is a recess about six feet wide and three deep; each is covered by a pointed 
arch bearing an inscription very much like those that run around the upper part of the 
chamber; they all relate to the "water sent by God from heaven." At the season of 
the rising Nile the Nile measurers have always been most carefully watched, and criers 
sent out through the cities to proclaim the level reached by the flood. Every one is 



Memphis. 



139 



eager to know, for the condition of the country for the whole year depended upon the 
inundation. 

The Nile has been called Egypt's great artery of existence, through which the 
sandy country draws life and nourishment. During the spring and summer months 

the waters gradually rise and 

cover the hard, dry banks with 

great sweet water lakes. The 

earth, like a sponge, takes in 

moisture enough to nourish the 

trees for a year and to supply the 

crops and all the other growing 

things with life till their season is 

past. Then the soil becomes so 

baked that it seems as if nothing 

could ever grow again, and it is a 

wonder that the tall palms do not 

wither and die. But in a few 

months the life-giving waters 

have come up, and all is changed 

like magic. One of the greatest 

of the earth's mysteries is the 

cause of this river's rising regular- 
ly once a year for unknown ages, 

and not varying more than a few 

hours in the time and a few 

inches in the height of its floods. 

At the Nilometer at Rhoda it 

begins to rise during the last 

week in June; in about three 

months it is at its height, and the 

country is transformed into a 

placid lake, dotted with dyked 

cities and towns, with numberless 

boats darting about or sailing 

calmly in many directions. The 

flood remains at its height for 

twelve days; then it begins to 
go down, and the Nile valley is soon like a lovely garden, with stretches of cornfields, 
deep green clover meadows, and acres covered with high-grown Indian corn and beans, 



iiSifi 




MUMMY. 



MUMMY IN COFFIN. 



140 Cities of the Ancient World. 

sugar-cane and cotton, with palm-trees and groves of acacias lying between. The 
sweet, soft waters teem with fish, and the white ibis, quail, pelicans, and geese swarm 
its banks, suffering occasionally from the visits of cormorants and vultures. 

It is not strange that the ancient people, when they saw the waters bring about this 
beautiful change year after year, should have thought the river a sacred thing; and it 
was natural that they should have believed a genius or spirit to be in this, as well as in so 
many other things that did them good or evil. So, among their divinities there was the 
god Nilus, to whom they paid great honor and for whose worship they built stately pil- 
lared temples along the flood-swept banks of the mighty stream. 

Memphis was not always capital of the Egyptian dynasties. Other cities held the 
honorable position for about a thousand years; and then in about 600 B.C., the old-time 
wealth and importance revived, and the king or pharaoh, as he was called by the He- 
brews, once more held his court at the ancient capital. This was not for long, but it 
brought back the lost power of the beautiful city, which for many centuries afterward 
continued to flourish in wealth and magnificence. Several of the dynasties that flour- 
ished during these ten centuries were ruled by Upper Egypt, and held their capital at 
Thebes, one of the grandest cities of ancient times. It lay in the broadest section of 
the Nile valley, the river flowing through the midst and dividing it into four principal 
quarters, which are now marked by the villages of Karnac and Luxor on the east bank, 
and Gournah and Medinat Habu on the west. The location was more central than 
that of Memphis, and being farther south, it was secure from the northern enemies of 
Egypt. The site seems marked by nature for the capital city of Upper Egypt; the two 
chains of hills which hem in the valley of the Nile sweep away on both sides and return 
again on the north, leaving a circular plain about ten miles across, divided almost 
equally by the broad river, and protected on the north by a narrow entrance. In the 
days of its magnificence the city, with its necropolis or cemetery, seems to have covered 
the whole plain, and to have been walled in from the inundations by embankments. 
It is said to have been in existence before the birth of Menes, which would have made it 
something like a thousand years old when it became the capital. Its power and prosperity 
arose from three sources — trade, manufacture, and religion. From about 1500 to 1000 
b.c, or during the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth dynasties, it stood at the height 
of its power and prosperity, and was one of the most important cities of the world. Its 
position on the Nile, near the great avenue through the Arabian hills to the Red Sea, 
and to the interior of Libya through the Western Desert, made it a common station for 
the Indian trade on the one side, and the caravan trade with the districts yielding gold, 
ivory, and aromatic herbs, on the other; it was also in the vicinity of the mines which 
thread the limestone borders of the Red Sea; all these advantages, combined with the 
open highway of the river, joined, in making a greater seat of trade here than any other 
place of ancient Africa, until the third century b.c, when the new city of Alexandria 



Thebes. 



141 



turned the stream of commerce into another channel. Thebes was also celebrated for 
its linen manufacture, which was an important fabric in Egypt, because a large number 
of the people belonged to the priest- 
hood, which was forbidden to use woolen 
garments. The glass, pottery, and in- 
taglios made in Thebes were highly 
prized, and beside the many workmen 
or artisans thus employed there must 
have been a great many others in build- 
ing, decorating, and repairing the vast 
number of great edifices with which the 
city was filled. Another very large por- 
tion of the Theban population were 
priests and their attendants, for this was 
the religious capital for all Egyptians, 
and for at times Ethiopians also, who 
worshiped the god Ammon. The entire 
city was made up of mile after mile of 
large and magnificent buildings for pub- 
lic and private, religious and secular use. 
Although Homer described the great 
capital as " ITecatompylos," or having a 
hundred gates, it was not a walled city. 
The gates were as massive and stately 
as city gates probably, but stood in the 
enclosures of temples and palaces. 
Each temple, it is believed, had its own 
circuit, generally, a thick brick-laid wall, 
with strong gateways, which were some- 
times arranged one within another, 
that outside being considerably larger 
than the inner enclosure. The army 
quarters, or barracks, as we would say, 
were fortified too with walls laid in 
strong massive blocks, and having an 
incline from the ground level to the 

top of the rampart. The grandeur of Thebes was celebrated throughout the ancient 
world for many things, but chiefly for its temples, which were more numerous and 
more magnificent than in any other place. The center of the city was marked off 




STATUE OF AMENOPHIS IV. 



142 Cities of the Ancient World. 

in an oblong about two miles long and four miles broad, which was the sacred and 
royal quarters; there was a sumptuous temple or palace at each of the four corners, 
and almost continuous lines of large and magnificent buildings lining the connect- 
ing avenues that bordered the oblong. The grandest of the temples was situated at 
the north-east corner, on the left bank of the river, where the village of Karnac now 
is. It covered a great square over fifty thousand yards around, which was enclosed by 
a wall of unburnt brick, and occupied by a built-up platform. It stood some distance 
from the river, but there was an avenue lined with colossal ram-headed sphinxes leading 
from it to a flight of steps on the bank. At these steps, a writer says, the devotee of 
Ammon would land, perhaps from some distant city, and filled with amazement and relig- 
ious awe, would slowly walk along between the majestic and tranquil sphinxes to the still 
more majestic gate of the main entrance to the building. This colossal entrance is 
about three hundred and sixty feet long, and nearly two hundred high, but without sculp- 
tures; the great door in the middle is sixty-four feet high. Beyond this door-way lay 
a large court, occupied by a range of pillars, running down the middle, and ending 
opposite to two colossal statues in front of a second propylon, or grand entrance, 
through which, after ascending a flight of twenty-seven steps, the visitors reached a 
large hall which has a flat stone roof, and is completely covered on all sides with sculp- 
tures of the deities. This is the great pillared hall, the famous hyfiostole of Karnac; it 
is supported by one hundred and forty-four mighty pillars, there being sixteen columns 
running across the breadth of the building in nine parallel rows. There is also a double 
row formed of twelve larger columns, running down the center of the hall. These were 
designed to support the highest parts of the roof, in the sides of which, above the main 
roof, small window lights were cut. Beyond the hall there was a back court with a 
stately portico and recessed door-way. The distance across the hall was about a hun- 
dred and fifty feet, while in the other direction rows of lofty sculptured pillars made 
broad aisles three hundred and fifty feet long. The hall alone, without counting the 
porticoes and outer courts, covered more than an acre of ground, in the form of an ob- 
long, for the oldest Egyptian architects often followed the plan of making their build- 
ings greater in width than in length, and of placing the main entrance in one of the 
long sides. The substantial walls of the " Karnac Temple " were covered with reliefs 
and inscriptions relating to the exploits of the great Eygptian kings, Rameses II., and 
his father Seti. In some pictures the monarch and his hosts are making conquests of 
other nations, winning battles, and gathering spoils; in one the people are cutting down 
trees to open a passage for his armies, and another shows a triumphant return to Egypt 
with many captives. Then there were scenes of peaceful arts and home-work, repre- 
senting the sinking of an artesian well to aid in working the gold mines of the south, 
and cutting the canal which united the Nile to the Red Sea. 

This was but one of the many temples in Thebes, dedicated to the great god Ammon, 



Thebes. 



H3 



whom the Greeks and Romans called Zeus or Jupiter. The Egyptians represented him 
as sitting on a throne holding the symbols of life and power, and wearing a crown, which 
was ornamented with two feathers and a band falling behind and hanging down to his 
feet. 

Nearly every city of ancient Egypt had a special deity; these were ideas or elements 
in nature personified — there was a god of the soil, the sky, the east, the west, of time, 
and all things that exist but have no real shape were said to have a sort of spirit, which 
took the form of invisible beings. Each month and day, each season aud change of 
weather had its own god, which was worshiped more or less throughout the whole 




SPHINX AT KARNAC 



country, but chiefly in some special place, called a religious capital. It is believed that 
the sacred square of Thebes was almost entirely surrounded with temples and shrines, 
chiefly for the worship of Ammon, or Amun-Ra, the Concealed God or Absolute 
Spirit. He was supposed to be at the head of the greater deities, for the gods were as 
distinctly graded in those days as the animal kingdom is now. Ammon had a ram's 
head, and that signified that much of his power was concealed; and the ancient worship- 
ers sincerely honored him for a great deal that came from they knew not where. From 
the great Karnac Temple, a dromo or avenue of sphinxes led southward across the 
eastern district of the city to another magnificent building, where the town of Luxor now 



144 Cities of the Ancient World. 

stands. This was a sublime stone edifice, with lofty gateways, courts and halls. The 
entrance was through two pyramid-like gates, two hundred feet wide and over fifty feet 
high, with two lofty obelisks * of red granite standing in front. Between the tall stone 
shafts and the gateway there were two immense red granite statues, of a man and a 
woman. The propylcea and the noble pillared hall beyond were adorned with sculptures 
representing the triumph of some ancient monarch of Egypt over an Asiatic enemy, 
battle scenes, hunting scenes, and other events in military or every-day life, from which 
it is believed that this structure was a state palace or some important public building. 
From the west side of the Luxor hall the sphinx avenue led to the river, where, at the 
foot of a grand staircase, there was probably a ferry leading to similar steps on the 
opposite bank. There, a continuation of the dromo, called the Royal Street, extended 
across the western portion of the city to the group of buildings at what is now known 
as Medinat Habu. These were a temple, the magnificent southern palace-temple of 
Rameses III., with its splendid battle scenes from that king's history. A large district 
lying south of this group of palaces and temples, which was probably the residence of 
the monarch, was the vast Theban Necropolis, or city of the dead, which was not only 
more than five miles in extent but went to a depth of several hundred feet. From 
Medinat Habu there was almost a continuous line of temples and public edifices lining a 
street that ran across the western part of the city, to where the village of Kurneh is. 
This was opposite Karnac, and from it ran a dromo which completed the square of the 
sacred and royal quarter of Thebes. 

The whole western quarter was known as Pathyris, or the Abode of Athor, the god- 
dess who was believed to receive the sun in her arms as he sank behind the Libyan 
Hills. It was divided into several quarters, built up with many lofty and spacious 
buildings, and embellished with immense statues. From the western bank of the river, 
at a point above Karnac, a range of hills began, which, bending slightly to the north-west, 
skirted the Pathyris with a beautiful background of green. In their side toward the 
city were numberless temples, palaces, public buildings and ancient dwellings; in a nar- 
row valley above Medinat-Habu was the tomb of the queen; and beyond the ridge, at 
some distance north of the busy part of the town, the sepulchres of the Theban rulers 
fill a retired and sheltered valley called the "Gates of the Kings." These tombs are 
hewn out of the rock, for the most part, and were great chambers or vaults in the 
mountain sides, far more simple than the pretentious pyramids of Memphis; but like 
them filled with sculptures and hieroglyphs, where vast treasures of knowledge on Egyp- 
tian history have but lately been discovered. Among the many kings associated with 
the ancient Theban dynasties the most famous and most powerful was Rameses the 

* One of these obelisks was removed to Paris by Napoleon, and set up in the Place de la Concorde. 
See " Great Cities of the Modern World." 



Tanis. 147 

Great, whom the Greek historians called Sesostris. He reigned for nearly seventy years 
in the fourteenth century B.C. The Egyptians have many legends of his conquests and 
tell many wonderful stories of deeds which he never did; but, nevertheless, like Semi- 
ramis of the East, Theseus of Greece, and other ancient heroes, Rameses II. did per- 
form some feats great enough to give him undying fame, and make him one of the most 
celebrated men of ancient times. He has been called the Numa of Rome and Napoleon 
of France blended into one character, because that while he was eager to gain territory 
and make conquests, he also made generous plans for the private rights of the people, 
who looked upon him as a sovereign whose slightest wish was a supreme law. He is said 
to have systematically and equally divided the Egyptian territory, and in his tax system 
to have made allowances for the injury that property would receive from the Nile. He 
cut canals in many directions for watering crops and for commercial uses, and caused 
dykes to be built to protect cities from damage during the rising of the river. He was 
a warrior as well as king; he subdued Ethiopia, another powerful nation of ancient 
Africa; and going eastward with his vast army and navy conquered Libya, Persia, and 
other countries beyond Syria and the Red Sea. With the spoils from these wars he 
beautified his capital, and adorned many other cities of both Egypt and Ethiopia. On 
another expedition he marshaled his host into Cyprus, Phoenicia, Assyria, and Media, 
where also he was successful and returned with large bands of captives, whom he set to 
work on temples to Ammon and other deities, on palaces for the state, and on monu- 
ments and statuary to Rameses' s own glory. It was the golden age of Egyptian archi- 
tecture, when whole acres were covered by a single building, when pillars and obelisks 
were raised by thousands to embellish halls and courts that have never since been 
equaled — not even by Rome itself we are told. They were structures that have made 
the country famous ever since for a style of architecture erection that is colossal, 
massive, and grand, with towering heights, huge round pillars, long and lofty colon- 
nades, avenues and halls, ornamented in sculpture and paintings that were far ahead of 
anything that had ever been seen in any other country before, although to our eyes they 
would seem stiff and crude, because the Greeks have taught us what real beauty of art 
and the true likeness to nature is. 

Rameses had also a residence in Lower Egypt, for with his vast kingdom, surrounded 
by warlike enemies, it soon became necessary to have a northern stronghold in the Delta; 
so in addition to the powerful city in the broad valley of Thebes, he established a sort 
of lower capital at Tanis. For some time, however, the court was not held here at all 
in seasons of peace, and the splendor of the monarchy was still centered at Thebes; 
but when there was any disturbance on the Syrian frontier, or the king's hosts were at 
war with the countries in the north, Tanis became the royal residence; it was nearer 
than the capital to the scene of operations, and at the same time stood too far inland to 
be easily reached by the enemy. While enemies were almost sure to discover in it an 



148 Cities of the Ancient World. 

awkward obstacle against invasion, the Egyptian king found it equally good as a station 
for army stores, as headquarters for reserve forces, or as a post from which to set out 
on an expedition to the east and north-east. During the warlike reign of Rameses, the 
Bucolia was frequently covered with the mustered forces of the king getting ready for 
the forward march, or the gay tents of a quartered army. Egypt had a powerful and ex- 
cellent military organization, which was composed of horses and chariots, and hundreds 
of thousands of foot-soldiers armed with helmet, spear, coat-of-mail, shield, battle-axe, 
club, javelin, and dagger for close fighting in dense array, and with bows, arrows, and 
slings for skirmishing and conflict in open order. An army of over four hundred thou- 
sand men was supported by a fixed portion of six acres of untaxed land to each man, 
which the soldier could cultivate in times of peace; but he could not follow any other 
business or occupation 

Rameses took great pains to set up temples and beautiful buildings in Tanis, and to 
have statues and lofty obelisks raised describing the conquests of his armies and the posi- 
tion of his dynasty in the history of Egypt and the world. The statuary was made with 
the figures either standing bolt upright, or kneeling on both knees, or sitting with the 
legs and arms in stiff positions. The work was always finished with remarkably fine 
surface and clean-cut lines, which shows that the tools must have been well tempered 
and had an excellent edge. Egyptian paintings had the same stiffness, with no perspec- 
tive and little light and shade. The colors were brilliant red, black, yellow, blue and 
green. The columns were modeled after the Egyptian palm, or the full-blown papyrus 
plant, and the wall decorations were copied from the grace and beauty of the famous 
lotus-plant, or lily of the Nile. It was a religious symbol to the people, who venerated 
the plant and held it as belonging to a part of their sacred gifts from the gods; it was 
used in sacrifices and other holy ceremonies, in tombs, and in all matters connected 
with death or another life; it was a symbol of many great things, especially in con- 
nection with the rise of the Nile and the season of the sun's full power. This lotus has 
no connection with that of the fabled "lotus-eaters," which was probably the shrub 
called jujube, growing still in Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco, on the northern coast of 
Africa. In the Twenty-first Dynasty, about the year 1100 B.C., the scepter of Egypt 
was transferred altogether from Thebes to Tanis. With this change one of the greatest 
epochs in ancient history began. It was a time, we are told, when the affairs of Egypt, 
Assyria, and Israel united into one stream of universal history. Thus Tanis, the Scrip- 
ture city of Zoan, had two periods of power under the Egyptian kings. In the second 
it was the national capital and an important commercial center beside. It was a time 
of peace, of arts, and of gathering wealth. Western Asia was conquered by David, and 
after him ruled by his son Solomon, " the peaceful," who made an ally of Egypt. Then, 
during many years of prosperity, Tanis developed such a large trade with the kingdom 
of Israel and the countries further east that it enriched the whole nation. The city was 



Heroopolis — Peltcsiu m. 



149 



founded by the famous Shepherd Kings, or Hyksos, a tribe of Arabians who invaded 
the Nile country in about 2050 b.c. They entered the Delta from the east, taking pos- 
session of the country and founding cities as they passed along. First, they conquered 
Lower Egypt, where they built other cities and fortresses beside Tanis; in about 1900 
they conquered the city of 
Thebes, and for about four 
centuries ruled the whole 
land of Egypt. At length 
they were overcome by 
Ahmes, who celebrated his 
victory over the foreign 
invaders by founding the 
Theban Monarchy, in about 
1500 b.c, whose splendor 
and power was the glory of 
ancient Egypt. 

One of the most impor- 
tant of the northern resi- 
dences of the Shepherd 
Kings was Heroopolis, the 
City of Heroes, which was 
a frontier town at the head 
of the Red Sea, in the land 
of Goshen, which lay be- 
tween the Nile Delta and 
Syria. Almost due north 
of Heroopolis, where the 
most easterly or Pelusiac 
branch of the Nile emptied 
into the Mediterranean, the 
famous maritime city of 
Pelusium, the key of 
Egypt, stood. It lay upon 
the great road to Palestine, 
commanding a plain that 
was so narrow from north 

to south that no invader could safely pass into the Delta; and south of it, at vari- 
ous points along the river were the great cities of Tanis, Buvastis, Heliopolis, and 
Memphis, beside many others of lesser note. Thus it was a depot for Eastern trade, a 




BUST OF RAMESES II. 



150 Cities of the Ancient World. 

port of the Great Sea, a sentinel at the entrance of the Nile, and a station between 
maritime and river traffic. It was substantially built, and well guarded, a populous city, 
which the prophet Ezekiel called the Strength of Egypt. 

Heliopolis, also called On, stood near the point of the Delta, and is said to have 
been built on a large mound or raised site, with lakes that were fed by several canals 
lying before it. It was not nearly so large as Thebes or even Memphis, but it was 
finely built, and had great celebrity because it was the capital of the sun-god. The 
Egyptians called it On, or the Abode of the Sun, while the name Heliopolis or " city of 
the sun" was given to it by the Greeks. This was the Athens of Egypt, where the 
wisest and most learned men of the time used to gather to study under the priests of the 
great deity. Moses, the prophet, was a student there, and the schools or colleges were 
so famous that even the great Grecians, Solon, Thales, and Plato went there to study. 
Manatheon, the writer of Egyptian history, was chief priest of Heliopolis at one time, 
and long before then the father-in-law of Joseph was at the head of the renowned tem- 
ple. It was reached by an avenue of sphinxes, from the north-west gate of the city, 
and before the entrance there were two tall obelisks that are now among the most nota- 
ble monuments in the world. One of them is still standing on the ancient site. It is 
said to be the oldest in all the country, and was raised by or in honor of Osirtasen I., 
second king of the Twelfth Dynasty. The same curious inscription was made in heiro- 
glyphs on each of the four sides; it has been translated into the following lines of 
English: 

The Hor of the Sun, 

The life of those who are born, 

The King of the upper and lower" land, 

Kheper-ka-ra; 

The Lord of the Double Crown, 

The life of those who are born, 

The son of the sun-god, Ra, 

Oristasen; 

The friend of the spirits of On, 

Ever living: 

The golden Hor, 

The life of those who are born. 

The good god, 

Kheper-ka-ra, 

Has executed this work 

In the beginning of the thirty years' cycle, 

He the dispenser of life, for evermore. 

Bubastis was in the Delta, about midway between Heliopolis and Tanis, and on the 
eastern bank of the Pelusiac Nile. It was among the first cities founded after Memphis, 




I, KING PHARAOH. 5, COURT OFFICER. 6, FAN BEARER. 7, JUDGE. 8, RODY-GUARD. 

10-17, NEIGHBORING TRIBES. 



Bubastis. 



151 



but it did not grow to great importance until about 1000 B.C., when it followed Tanis as 
capital and became the seat of the twenty-second dynasty. It was raised by embank- 
ments higher than any other place above the inundations of the river. The city was 
. sacred to the goddess Ba-hest or Bast, which was the same as Pasht, the goddess of fire. 
She was represented in statuary as a lion-headed figure. Cats were sacred to her, and 
Bubastis was the great burial-place for cats, as Memphis was for bulls. An ancient 
Greek writer says that while other temples might be grander, and might have cost more 
in the building, there was none so pleasant to 
the eye as that of Bast. It stood in the 
middle of the city, in plain sight from all 
quarters, for the city had been raised up by 
embankment, while the temple was left 
where it was first built, so it could be looked 
down upon from any part of town. It was 
reached by a paved road that led in an 
easterly direction from another temple, 
straight through the market- 
place. This entrance was 
about four hundred feet wide, 
and was lined on both sides 
by rows of very high trees. 
Except the entrance, the 
whole formed an island. 
Two artificial channels from 
the Nile, one on either side 
of the temple, encompassed 
the building, leaving only the 
entrance passage. These 
channels were each a hundred 
feet wide, and were thickly 

shaded with trees. The gateway was sixty feet high, and was ornamented with figures 
cut upon the stone, something like those that covered the long low wall skirting a grove 
within which the temple stood with its sacred image of the goddess. The yearly festival 
in honor of Bast is said to have been better attended than any other in Egypt. The 
old Greek historian said, " Men and women come sailing all together, vast numbers in 
each boat, many of the women with castanets, which they strike, while some of the 
men pipe during the whole time of the voyage, and the others sing and make a clapping 
with their hands. At Bubastis they celebrate the feast with abundant sacrifices. More 
grape-wine is used up at this festival than in all of the rest of the year beside. The 




ANCIENT COINS. 



152 Cities of the Ancient World. 

number of men and women who attend are said to be seven hundred thousand, and this 
is not counting the children." 

Under the Twenty-fourth Dynasty, or in about the year 660 B.C., the capital of the 
Lower Empire was transferred to the celebrated city of Sais. It stood in the Delta, 
on a western branch of the river called the Canopic branch, about due west of Tanis, 
where now stands the modern town of Sa-el-Hagar, or Sa of the Stone, named from 
some modern stone building in the neighborhood. The city was chiefly famous as a 
great religious capital, and as the last seat of the independent Egyptian Government. 
Sais was built with temples, great palaces, public buildings, massive walls, and stately 
gateways, that stood upon an embankment that raised it above the flood of the high 
Nile, and made it a conspicuous sight to vessels soon after they entered the river. Like 
many other cities of the country it had a fine lake and many canals outside the walls; 
and at one end there was a large, strongly fortified enclosure for a citadel, which was 
mostly made of crude bricks. The temples of the city were dedicated to several of the 
Egyptian deities, but chiefly to the goddess whom they called Neith, the same that the 
•Greeks and Romans called Pallas, or Minerva. In her honor the "Feast of Lamps" 
was held, which was one of the most important and most beautiful ceremonies in the 
country. At stated times the assembly of priests and people had a special meeting for 
Neith's sacrifices, and on one of the nights of the festival the inhabitants all burned a 
multitude of lights round their houses in the open air. The lamps were flat saucers 
filled with a mixture of oil and salt, on the top of which the wicks floated. They burned 
'all night and gave to the festival the name of the Feasts of Lamps. The Egyptians 
who were absent from the festival observed the night as if they were at home, so that 
the illumination was not confined to Sais, but extended over the whole of Egypt. 

From very early times this city was closely connected with Greece. It is said that Ce- 
■crops went from there and founded a fortress in Attica, which was first called Cecropia, but 
afterward became Athens, and that he gave to the half-barbarous Hellenes their earliest 
laws on marriage and some other things, from which the wonderful Greek civilization 
was developed. At a later day there was a large Greek quarter in Sais, governed by 
Greek laws, with a separate government from the Egyptian districts of the city. This 
was during and after the time of Psammetichus, who died in about the year 650 b.c. 
Before this reign no foreigner was allowed to live in Egypt, and as the Greeks were about 
the earliest history writers it is to the foreign policy of Psammetichus that we are in- 
debted for the written history of ancient Egypt. But it was not a policy that benefited his 
own government, for when he hired Greek soldiers and tried to introduce the Greek lan- 
guage and customs, he offended the great bodies of Egyptian military so that they moved 
into Ethiopia in vast numbers. The king then had to carry on his Eastern wars alto- 
gether with armies of foreigners; and too often after this the Egyptian monarch was the 
conquered instead of the conquering hero of battle. The next king, Necho, gave his 



Sai's. 



15, 



attention chiefly to mak- 
ing his country a great 
center for the trade of 
the Red Sea, between 
Europe and Asia. He 
built fleets on both wa- 
ters, and strove to join 
the Nile and the Red 
Sea by a canal. He 
hired Phoenicians, who 
were among the best 
sailors in the ancient 
world, to make explora- 
tions; and some of them 
sailed from the Arabian 
Gulf all the way around 
the continent of Africa to 
the mouths of the Nile. 
This was one of the most 
important voyages of 
discovery of ancient 
times. Necho's most 
notable wars were with 
Josiah, King of Judea, 
whom he conquered; and 
Nebuchadnezzar, King 
of Babylon, by whom he 
was defeated; but after 
him there were several 
kings who made some 
splendid conquests, es- 
pecially Amasis. He 
won back part of the lost 
power of the Egyptians; 
and beside being suc- 
cessful in war, he was 
prosperous in peace and 
governed his nation well. 
Under him Sai's became 
more beautiful and more 
important than it had 




EGYPTIAN WATER CARRIERS. 



154 Cities of the Ancient World. 

ever been before, with many tradesmen and merchants, a large commerce, and rich home- 
trade. When Amasis died his son became king, and with the empire young Psammenitus 
inherited from his father a bitter quarrel with Cambyses, the king of Persia, who soon 
invaded the country and conquered it. For the next two centuries the Egyptians were 
almost constantly struggling against the Persians, till the invasion of Alexander the 
Great, in 332 B.C., united them to the great Macedonian Empire, which its king believed 
to be the world. 

The Great Alexander's conquest brought an end to the dynasties of ancient Egypt, 
and opened a new epoch not only in the history of that land, but in the affairs of the 
whole world. The independent nation of the Pharaohs became the kingdom of the 
Ptolemies, who held their court at a new city, founded by the great conqueror, and 
called after him, Alexandria. He chose for it the low and narrow tract of land which 
separated the lake Mareotis from the Mediterranean. This was a sheltered part of the 
sea-shore, about fourteen miles west of the Canopic mouth of the Nile, beyond the reach 
and above the level of the inundations. It was a city founded on a rock, for the soil at 
that point lay over the firm stratum of the rock of the Libyan Desert. It had every 
advantage of situation; two sheltered harbors of the Great Sea on the north, Lake 
Mareotis on the south, and the Nile not far distant toward the east; all of which soon 
became connected by a fine system of canals. Alexander had not long to stay in his 
newly gained territory of Egypt, but while he led his armies on to Persia, he left the 
celebrated Greek architect Dinocrates to carry out his plans in regard to the new city. 
This was done most successfully; in a few years Alexandria became celebrated for its 
magnificence and beauty, and also for many other things. It grew to be a center of 
commerce and of learning for the east and the west. The traffic and intelligence of 
Europe, Asia, and Africa came together there, bringing wealth and civilization, so that 
the new city of the great conqueror soon became one of the most renowned in the world. 
Before it, off the Mediterranean shore, lay the island of Pharos, upon the north-east 
point of which stood the famous light-house of the same name. It was a large square 
tower of white marble, that rose four hundred feet high, and was so prominent and mag- 
nificently built that the ancients looked upon it as one of the seven wonders of the 
world; it lasted for sixteen hundred years. The beacon-fire, which was always kept 
burning at the top, could be seen by ships forty miles away. It was begun by the first 
king Ptolemy, and finished by his son, who ordered the architect to engrave upon it this 
inscription: " Xing Ptolemy, to the Gods the Saviors ; for the Benefit of Sailors ; " but the 
architect secretly cut other lettering in the marble, which he filled with mortar, and 
made the king's inscription on that. As he expected, the mortar fell out in the course 
of time, leaving the bold words: Sostratus the Cnidiati the son of Dexiplianes, to the Gods 
the Saviors, for the Betiefit of Sailors. The island was connected with the city by a high 
and substantial stone dike called the Heptastadium, or Seven Furlong Mole. On the 



Alexandria. 



155 




top of this there was a street, which became a popular promenade, especially after the 

island was built up with villas 
and laid out as a suburb of 
the city. The Mole sepa- 
rated the large natural bay 
here into two harbors. On 
the eastern side was the 
larger port, called the Great 
Harbor, while on the west 
lay the Eimostos, or harbor 
of Safe Return. Vessels 
could pass from one harbor to the other through 
two breaks or open spaces left in the wall, and 
the bridges that spanned them were made to be 
raised to let large vessels go through. The 
harbors were protected with magnificent break- 
waters, and within Eunostos there was an artificial 
basin called Kibotos, or the Chest, which was con- 
nected with Lake Mareotis by a large canal that 
had an arm running to the western or Canopic 
mouth of the Nile. 

The city was laid out in squares, and extend- 
ed about four miles east and west; but in the 
other direction it was only about a mile across 
from the walls washed by the Mediterranean to 
those bathed by the waves of Mareotis. In the 
center, where the two main streets crossed, there 
was a handsome temple-like edifice, built of 
marble. It was a mausoleum in which the em- 
balmed body of the Great Alexander lay in a 
coffin of pure gold. This was stolen, after a 
while, and the Alexandrians put a sarcophagus 
of alabaster in its place. The streets that met 
here were two chief thoroughfares of the city, 
one of which ran from the Mediterranean to the 
lake, and the other from the Canopic Gate on the 
east to the Necropolis, or burial-ground, on the 
west. Both were wide and busy thoroughfares^ 
which were lined with splendid colonnades the 




LIGHT-HOUSE IN OLD ALEXANDRIA 



156 Cities of the Ancient World. 

whole distance, and built up with magnificent houses, temples, and public buildings. They 
were intersected by side streets running to various parts of the three divisions of the city. 
On the west was the quarter known as Rhacotis, after the little town that Alexander found 
there; to the north-east lay the Jews' District, while the eastern part of the city was 
occupied by the Brucheum, which was the magnificent Royal or Greek quarter. This 
included the narrow peninsula called the Lochias, which ran out from the shore into the 
Mediterranean, and formed a natural breakwater on the eastern side of the Great Har- 
bor. The large handsome group of buildings that stood upon it with a view northward 
to the open sea, eastward toward the mouths of the Nile, and westward over the beauti- 
ful waters of the Harbor, where there were fluttering sails and high-banked galleys 
gathered from every sea-port of the known world, were the palaces of the Ptolemies. These 
kings were not natives of Egypt. The first of them was a Grecian general in the army 
of Alexander the Great; he came to Egypt because it fell to his lot when the great 
conqueror died, and the government of his vast empire was divided among his generals. 
As soon as Ptolemy took possession of Egypt, others, who would have liked it, made 
trouble; but he had enough energy and talent not only to ward off the dangers which 
beset his realm, but to extend his dominions by conquest over his enemies among the 
islands and along the eastern shores of the Great Sea. When the other generals who 
had received portions of Alexander's empire, took the title of king, Ptolemy proclaimed 
himself sovereign of Egypt. This was in about the year 300 B.C., and a few years after 
the people of Rhodes gave him the surname of Soter, or preserver, in gratitude for his 
deliverance of them from the siege of the king of Cyprus. 

The latter part of his reign was a time of peace and prosperity for the new kingdom 
of Egypt. He laid the foundations for a good government; he encouraged commerce, 
and soon made Alexandria the great port on the Mediterranean. Its lake, harbors, and 
canals were full of boats, and the broad wharves were lined with vessels loading and 
unloading goods; men were standing about in crowds, and slaves were running to and 
fro past piles of merchandise, and groups of idlers or street-performers. Many nations, 
were represented in that motley crowd, and the forest of masts that lined the shore and 
extended out into the lake or the harbors carried sails that had been filled out by the 
breezes of all the open seas of the known world. But Ptolemy Soter made wit and 
learning as welcome at Alexandria as money and merchandise. He was a writer him- 
self, and his records of Alexander's wars supplied the great historian Arrian with the 
material for a later and more famous work on the same subject. At his court, and even 
as guests at the beautiful palace on the Lochias he entertained the greatest scholars, 
authors, scientists and artists of his time; his son, Ptolemy II., whose surname was 
Philadelphus, and his son's son Ptolemy Euergetes, or Ptolemy III., followed Soter's 
example, and gradually raised Alexandria to a magnificent position in literature, learn- 
ing, and art, as well as in military glory, wealth, and commercial prosperity. Not far 



Alexandria. 



157 



from the palace was the museum, where Euclid studied, and perhaps taught geometry, 
and where he met Stilpo the philosopher, Zenodotus, and other famous scholars. Some 
of them were at work upon critical editions of Homer and other Greek classics, and 
first analyzed and classified language so that its study became the science that is famil- 
iar to us all as grammar. The museum was a sort of college, a large and handsome 
building, which included assembly halls, lecture-rooms for the professors, and a great 
dining hall. Adjoining was the celebrated library, which was founded by Soter, and 
enlarged by the other Ptolemies till it became the largest and finest collection of books 
in the ancient world. All the learning of the time was stored here in parchment rolls, 
inscribed with copies of the best writings of every author of the past and present in 
Rome, Greece, India, and Egypt. While the greater part of the collection was in the 
Museum, there was also a large number of manuscripts kept in the Serapeum, or Temple 




OLD ALEXANDRIA. 

of Jupiter Serapis, in the Rhacotis quarter. Altogether there were about seven hundred 
thousand volumes in the Alexandrian Library. This was a very large collection for 
those ancient times, and even outnumbered all but a few of the great modern libraries, 
such as the National at Paris, the British Museum in London, and the Vatican at 
Rome. Our own Congressional Library at Washington, which is the largest in the 
country, has scarcely six hundred thousand books. But a volume means more now than 
it did two thousand years ago. In those days all books were in writing or manuscript 
on papyrus or on parchment, made up into rolls instead of being printed on thin sheets of 
paper and bound together; they required far more time to make, and were much larger 
in bulk than any of our volumes, so each part of a work was done up in a separate roll 
or volume; so instead of making a long story or poem, like Homer's Iliad, in one vol- 
ume made up of twenty-four books or parts, it was written in twenty-four separate rolls, 
each of which was called a volume. So, although there were a great many more books 
in that famous old collection, there was not so very much more reading matter than in 
most modern libraries. 



158 Cities of the Ancient World. 

The Egyptians were the first paper-makers, and probably, in their own way, the first 
book-makers of the world. In the marshes and pools along the Nile they either found 
or cultivated the papyrus plant, and from it made long sheets or scrolls used for writing. 
The plant, which is rare now, is much like the rush, with soft and green stems, often 
ten feet long. The bottom part, which is in mud and water while it is growing, is whiter 
and more compact than the rest, and under the outer skin a number of thin, filmy layers lie 
one above another. These are what the ancients used for making paper. They were 
taken out of the stem, and laid side by side with their edges overlapping each other; 
then one or more layers were put crosswise on top of the others, until they made up a 
sheet or strip of the proper thickness. Then they were carefully pressed for a time, 
and afterward dried in the sun. The width of the sheets was according to the length 
of the papyrus stem used, but they could be made any length by glueing a number of 
the squares end to end; the scapus or roll was usually made up of about twenty sheets. 
There were different qualities of papyrus paper, known by different names; the finest 
was made from the innermost of the filmy layers of the plant. It was made for the use 
of Egyptian priests, who forbade its sale until it was covered with sacred writings, which 
were usually put on in red or black ink with a reed called Kash. When the paper was 
newly made it was white or brownish-white and flexible; but after a while the material 
would grow brittle and gradually deepen in color. It was the most famous and fashion- 
able of all writing materials in ancient times, and became so popular in the days of the 
Ptolemies that immense manufactories of it were set up in Alexandria, that sustained a 
large and wealthy traffic with the various cities of Greece and Italy. It was very ex- 
pensive, a single sheet costing more than the value of a dollar; but the Greeks and 
Romans imported it in large quantities, and used it largely in public documents and in 
writing-books. The long strips were wound around small rollers, which the Romans 
called volumina, from which we have the word "volume." It was not until some time 
after the beginning of the Christian era that the sheets of papyrus were cut up into 
pages and bound like modern books. One of the most celebrated manuscripts of the 
Alexandrian Library that is now in existence is a Greek version of the Bible. It is at 
present among the precious curiosities of the British Museum, and is called the Alex- 
andrian Codex. It was probably made in the latter part of the sixth century after 
Christ's birth, long after the Ptolemies were gone, and their fair city was in the hands 
of the Arabs. In the vicinity of the Museum there were many of the finest buildings 
in the capital, with much the same appearance as those of a Greek city. The great 
theater had its splendid tiers of seats and vast stage; the public halls their colonnaded 
porticoes, and the temples their sculptured pediments. In this quarter stood the Ccesa- 
rium with its grand and stately facade, and " Cleopatra's Needles," the famous obelisks 
from Heliopolis, in front. It was a temple where divine honors were paid to the 
rulers; further on were the extensive Court of Justice, the busy Emporium or Ex- 



Alexandria. 



159 



change, where Alexandrian merchants met day after day to transact business connected 
with foreign trade, and the great Gymnasium, which was so large that just the porticoes, 
with their beautiful polished granite columns, covered fully an eighth of a mile. Between 




CLEOPATRA S NEEDLE. 



this and the sea was the market-place, which was probably open in the center, sur- 
rounded by colonnades filled with rich sculptures and fine pictures. It was overlooked 
by many tall and stately buildings on the sides toward the inner part of the city, while 



160 Cities of the Ancient World. 

seaward the blue waters of the Mediterranean swept into the vast semicircle of the 
Great Harbor, ringed with palaces and towers and dotted with great hulks beneath 
tall and slender masts; on one side the long and glittering line of the Ptolemies' palaces 
stretched out toward the gleaming tower of the Pharos, and from that, on the other 
side of the wind-swept bay, the great dike of the Hepstastadium, with its bridges and 
its fashionable promenades, led back to the city. This was the elegant and aristocratic 
part of Alexandria. Away to the east, outside the Canopic Gate, lay the suburb of 
Nicopolis, and the great Hippodrome, where the games, races, and hand to hand com- 
bats were almost as well patronized as in Greece or Rome. 

But the grandest edifice in Alexandria was the Serapeum, in the Rhacotis quarter at 
the other end of the city. This was even larger and finer than the Serapeum of Mem- 
phis, and it is said to have been more magnificent than any other building in the world, 
excepting the capitol of ancient Rome. It stood on the summit of an artificial hill, and 
was reached from the level of the adjacent parts of the city by a flight of a hundred 
steps. The hill was made with a cavity in the center, strongly supported by arches, and 
divided off into vaults and corridors like the catacombs. 

The sacred buildings occupied a large square surrounded by a portico; they were 
adorned with exquisite statues and every tasteful decoration that the best artistic talent 
in the world could afford. Beside the shrine and the colossal statue of Serapis, it con- 
tained about three hundred volumes of the great Library, rooms for the priests, and 
apartments for the vast stores of treasure brought as votive offerings to the god. Sera- 
pis is said to have been brought from Greece by order of the first Ptolemy. People 
believed that he sat at the gates of the " Lower World," and he was somewhat con- 
nected in the minds of the Egyptians with Osiris and Apis, and in the belief of the 
Greeks and Romans with Pluto or Hades. In the vicinity of the Serapeum and 
throughout all Rhacotis, the city had a different aspect from the eastern quarters. The 
inhabitants were almost entirely Egyptians; few of either Jews or Greeks were seen 
upon the streets, and the houses and shops had less of a foreign appearance than those 
of the other parts of the city, while the native dress and customs were retained so far 
as it was possible in a city that had been built by a Grecian architect, under the direc- 
tion of the Macedonian emperor, and was the capital of a country ruled by a Greek, 
who gathered about him thousands of important men from the same land. 

The shore line of Rhacotis skirted the harbor of Eunostos, and was lined with 
wharves and quays, where different kinds of merchandise were stacked in high piles, 
unsheltered from the rainless air. There were huge heaps of grain, and of fruit fresh 
from the market-boats, many of which drew up at the foot of the sea-wall stairs; 
here and there were cargoes of black slaves — human merchandise — being landed, or 
lounging in groups, awaiting purchasers. The long colonnaded street crossing Alex- 
andria from east to west, led through Rhacotis to the burial ground, or necropolis, of the 




2, EGYPTIAN QUEEN. 9, ETHIOPIAN QUEEN. 3, PRIESTESS. 4, TRIEST. 
I I-I2, SERVANTS. 13-14, NUMIDIANS. 



Alexandria. 



161 



great capital. It was one of the largest in Egypt, and was of quite a different character 
from those of the more ancient cities, for beside the vaulted galleries and tombs of Gre- 
cian style, there were gardens and shops, and extensive embalming establishments. 
It was in a part of the Alexandrian necropolis that the beautiful queen Cleopatra killed 
herself with a stinging asp, rather than be led in triumph by the Roman emperor Augus- 




THE GREAT PYRAMID. 

tus. Beneath the houses in this quarter of the city there were long galleries and cham- 
bers where the soft limestone rock was dug out for building purposes. There were also 
immense vaulted underground cisterns in Alexandria that held enough water to furnish 
all the inhabitants with a bountiful supply for household use and for bathing. The 
Greek custom of having numerous public baths was very popular, especially in the east- 
1 1 



l62 



Cities of the Ancient World. 



ern and central quarters; and was followed by residents- from many other countries. In 
its palmiest days this great Egyptian capital had half a million or more of all sorts of 
people, who had come from all lands. The largest numbers were of Greeks, Jews, and 
Egyptians, but beside these there were thousands of slaves belonging to great officials, 
wealthy merchants, and other rich men and women, whose households were almost large 

enough to fill a small village. Then there were visitors, on 
pleasure or business — tradesmen, merchants, scholars, ar- 
tists, and artisans -people of every trade and occupation, 
who went from north and south, east and west, to the great 
center of attraction. It was the place to win fame, to make 
money, to learn, to teach, to do good, and to do evil. 
There was almost nothing that the world produced that 
could not be found at Alexandria; all that was valuable, 
useful, and beautiful was either made or imported; all crafts 
were practiced there, from boat-building to glass-blowing 
and inlaying with rare woods and precious metals; gorgeous 
clothing and furniture was manufactured there, and even 
ships' sails were to be found worked in colors and em- 
broidered in handsome patterns. Flax that was grown in 
the Egyptian fields was brought to the city, where it was 
woven into fine linen and made into beautiful garments. 
^TT^f£\ r - o v ^=>~~2 Both men and women delighted in luxuries; they were car- 
ried through the streets on gay litters borne by shiny black 
slaves, and wore robes of rich and embroidered material, 
and decked themselves with bracelets, anklets, and a num- 
ber of other ornaments of burnished precious metals glit- 
tering with jewels. In the year 30 B.C., Alexandria in all 
wealth and magnificence fell into the hands of the Romans, 
and from then it began to decline. In the years that fol- 
lowed it saw many struggles and much desolation, passing 
from the power of one country to another; but a new life 
sprung up. At about the beginning of this century com- 
merce returned, and the forsaken town revived; and now a modern city, which is one of 
the chief ports of the Mediterranean Sea,* lies beside the ruins of old Alexandria. 




© p^~^ 4|£ f 




EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 



See description of Alexandria in " Great Cities of the Modern World. 



COLONIES AND ISLANDS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN 

SEA. 

AFTER Alexandria, the chief city in the eastern part of the Great Sea, was the 
illustrious capital of Rhodes. It stood on an island of the same name off the 
south-western coast of Asia Minor, and became the metropolis of a great mari- 
time state in very early times, founding important colonies in Sicily, Southern Italy, and 
many places. The inhabitants were Greeks, who conducted their government on up- 
right principles, and commanded the respect of all who had dealings with them. The 
city stood on the north-eastern end of the island, rising like an amphitheater from the 
sea. It was planned with an artist's skill, and entirely built up with magnificent and 
stately buildings after the designs of one man. In addition to the palaces, temples, 
halls and colonnades that extended in all directions, the city was embellished with some 
of the greatest works of art that ever adorned any place, ancient or modern. It was 
girt about by strong walls, surrounded by towers, and was approached from the sea by 
two fine harbors. At the entrance of one of these there was a gigantic brass statue of 
the sun. It was called the Colossus of Rhodes, and was celebrated among the ancients 
as one of the seven wonders of the world. The height was over a hundred feet, and 
the figure was so great that a large man could scarcely make his arms go around the 
thumb; but it is a mistake to believe that its legs extended over the mouth of the harbor, 
as the old picture-makers have represented it. The statue was twelve years in building, 
and cost three hundred talents. There were three thousand statues in Rhodes; one 
hundred of which were colossal; for this city was a center of art, and a treasury of 
sculpture long after the schools of other parts of Greece had partially died out. The 
most beautiful work that was made here is the famous group of Laocoon, the serpent- 
bound priest of Troy, and his two sons, which is now one of the rarest gems of the 
Vatican Gallery at Rome. It was made by three sculptors, Agesander, Polydorus, and 
Athenodorus. Beside the schools of sculpture held by these and other great artists, 
Rhodes had also many painters of merit, and a circle of scholars and students in science 
and literature. Then there was the added importance of wealth and prosperity, which 
came from a fertile and well cultivated land, a broad, rich commerce, and a quick, brave 
and hardy people. 



164 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Up to the middle of the fourth century b.c. it was alternately in league and at enmity 
with Athens. It fell, with the rest of Greece, under the sway of Alexander. But 
upon the death of the great conqueror, it threw off the Macedonian yoke, and rising into 
independence, extended its territories and greatly increased its commerce and naval 
power. It formed a league with the Greek kingdom in Egypt, and had a fine trade with 
Alexandria. When Ptolemy I. helped the Rhodians against the fierce siege of Demetrius 
of Macedonia, he received from them, in gratitude, the title of Soter or preserver; and 
was worshiped by them as a god. The prosperity and importance of the city lasted till 
the time of the Roman emperors, but the place was completely destroyed by an earth- 
quake in 155 a.d. 

Until the rise of Alexandria, the greatest sea port on the southern shore of the Medi- 
terranean was Carthage. This was the capital of a Phoenician colony, which went 
from Tyre and settled upon an African peninsula many miles west of the Nile Delta. In 
an angle made by the coast line as it turns from a northerly to a westerly direction, there 
was once a deep bay, where Cape Bon now is. It was guarded by the ancient promon- 
tory of Muscury, while opposite that there was a western headland, called the Fair 
Promontory. On a jutting tongue of land, about midway between, stood the fair 
towers and stately buildings of the great commercial city. It controlled some of the 
best trades in the world, and ruled many flourishing colonies and great towns on the 
west coast of Africa, among the islands, and along the shores of the Great Sea. The 
original city occupied nearly all of the peninsula, which was considerably broader than 
it was long, and presented almost a square coast line to the open sea. 

The northern portion, with one side exposed to the Mediterranean and the other 
to the upper enclosure of the bay, was occupied by the busiest and most closely built 
part of the city; while the southern portion, which was almost square and washed by the 
sea on the east and the south, was known as the suburb of Megara. This was a pleasant, 
shady resort, and was, for the most part, laid out with gardens and groves, in sheltered 
dells and ravines, or upon the pretty hills that overlooked the blue waters of the sea. 
A low cliff, which was a sort of natural defense, ran around the edge, to which was added 
a line of walls. The city itself was divided into two quarters, — the citadel, which was 
called Bosra, and Coshon, or the harbor quarter. The citadel was the highest and 
strongest part of the city. It stood near the eastern shore in the center of the city, on 
a long hill, which measured about two miles around. On the land side it was defended 
by three walls each over fifty feet high, consisting of two stories, and set with frequent 
towers, that rose two stories above the wall. Along these enclosures were stalls for three 
hundred elephants and four thousand horses, with barracks for twenty thousand men. 
Beside this, the whole city was fortified with a line of ramparts that made an enclosure 
measuring twenty-three miles around. There was a large military force in the city, and 
a mighty standing army always ready for defense or conquest. 



Carthage. 



165 



It was an easy matter for the state to raise a hundred thousand troops: and at one 
time the city alone sent out forty thousand armed infantry, one thousand soldiers on 
horseback, and two thousand war chariots. The forces were drawn from Libyan subjects, 




ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 



whose conquered territory was adjacent to Carthage, from hired Numidians, and slaves; 
they were maintained by tribute from subject nations, from the rich mines in Spain, and 



1 66 Cities of the Ancient World. 

other products of foreign colonies, and from import-duties received from the enormous 
maritime and inland trade controlled by the city. 

Cothon lay to the north-west of the citadel, for the Carthaginian harbors were on the 
tipper side of the peninsula. There were two well-arranged and finely protected basins 
on the lower side of a great land-locked bay, whose site is now marked by the salt pits 
above the modern city of Tunis. The outermost, or merchants' harbor, was protected 
from the bay by a broad pier or mole running out far from the shore. Here was a 
spacious quay, along which boats were drawn up to be loaded before starting out on a 
trading expedition, or to discharge their cargoes from ports far and near. From the 
Greek colonies of Southern Italy or from the more adjacent land of Sicily there were 
wine and oil; from Corsica wax was brought, with slaves and honey; from Sardinia — 
lying a comparatively short distance to the north of Carthage, — the great corn supply 
was obtained; from the Lipari Isles came sulphur; and from southern Spain various 
rich metals were brought. In return for these goods, the great city sent negro-slaves, 
cloths and gold in great quantities. Other ships communicated with the Carthaginian 
colonies that extended in a long line over the north-west coast of Africa where Morocco 
now is, keeping up trade with the natives, who owed allegiance to the celebrated city. 
There was also in that quarter a large valuable fishery of tunnies, fish that are still 
caught in the Mediterranean and sold in various Levantine and Oriental markets. 

The lines of commerce extending in the other direction reached the great Phoenician 
cities of the Eastern Mediterranean. The merchantmen of Carthage visited every 
coast and island of the Great Sea, and even ventured to the Azores, Britain, and the 
Baltic. Beyond the merchants' harbor, and almost concealed from its view, lay the 
inner haven, the port of the Carthaginian navy. This was close to the heart of the city, 
and had an outlet to the sea on the east, between the city and a large island at the 
mouth of the bay. From the western end of this island a small mole ran to the great 
dike, cutting the naval haven off from the outlet of the merchants' harbor. On the 
inner side of the enclosure thus made, the haven was flanked by docks, corresponding 
to those that surrounded a small island, which lay in the center. All were furnished 
with Ionic columns, so that the entire harbor was lined on all sides with stately colon- 
nades. Between two and three hundred ships could be accommodated within these docks, 
all within sight of the admiral, whose residence was on the island. Strong chains 
were drawn across the entrance, which was only about seventy feet wide. The navy 
was very powerful; in the great days of the Carthaginian state it numbered hundreds of 
ships and thousands of men, and was kept up, like the army, at enormous expense. But 
the government could well afford it, for her people were famously successful in business, 
as their wonderful commerce proved. 

This enterprise extended to other lines, besides: by caravans, as well as by ships, 
they reached the barbarous African tribes that lived inland or along the western coast, 



Carthage. 



167 



and with them traded trinkets, saddlery, pottery, arms, and woven cloth of cotton in 
exchange for hides, ivory, gold dust and negro slaves; they also paid great attention 
to agriculture, and the whole of their territory was cultivated like a garden, so that it 
supplied all the food the people wanted. Thus the Phoenician colony made the best use 
of all their opportunities, and, although their state itself was a small territory, they 
planted colonies among the wilds of their own continent, and gained possession of some 
of the most important and flourishing places on the Great Sea. But there were some 
weak places in the nation; one of the most serious was that a large part of the army was 
made up of hired troops, called mercenaries, or men who fought for money instead of 
for a cause. These men having no great interest in the State were liable to break out 




MEDAL OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. 

in revolt when they became dissatisfied, and the Carthaginians, having no reason to love 
them, were given to being severe and oppressive. Another weak point in the government, 
was that the few great aristocrats who were at the head of the people, were haughty and 
overbearing toward the lower classes, and did not establish their state on principles of 
freedom to all; they did not try to bring their allies together as citizens and free men, 
whose interests and abilities were wanted by the state; but a few leaders set themselves 
up for the soul of the whole nation, and looked upon the mass of men as servants to do 
their will. This kind of government, called an oligarchy, is a very bad thing for a 
country, unless the leaders happen to be just, unselfish and public-spirited men. 

Adjoining the Cothon on the south and at the foot of the Bosra, lay the Carthaginian 



1 68 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Forum, which was probably an open market-place surrounded by colonnades, temples 
and other beautiful buildings with roads leading from it to the harbors, to the city gates, 
and to various other quarters. The chief temples of the state were here, large, hand- 
some, and magnificently adorned. 

The Carthaginian religion was very much the same as that of their forefathers, the 
Phoenicians, a worship of the stars and of fire. Their great god was Moloch, to whom 
children and captives were sacrificed; and who was supposed to appear as the sun. 
Other deities were Hercules, Astarte, the goddess of the elements, such as wind and 
rain; and Esmun, the god of the sky, or vault of heaven. Many of the heroes and 
heroines of Carthaginian history were also believed to have become deities, and were 
worshiped with divine honors and sacrifices. One of the most famous of these was 
Queen Dido, who was said to have founded the city. She was Elisa, princess of Tyre, 
the great Phoenician city on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and lived there 
so long as her father was king. After his death her arrogant brother Pygmalion became 
ruler, and made poor Dido very unhappy by murdering her husband, in order to give 
himself more power and to get possession of his brother-in-law's wealth. But before he 
could find it, Elisa formed a conspiracy with three hundred dissatisfied senators, who, 
with a number of other Tyreans, seized a fleet of ships lying in port, and set sail. They 
carried off the treasure and several thousand people, who were glad to leave the beautiful, 
but tyrant-ruled city. After a long voyage westward, they landed on the north coast of 
Africa, not far from the Phoenician colony of Utica. Here Elisa, now called Dido, 
*' The fugitive," bought a piece of land from the Numidian king, and upon the peninsula 
opposite Sicily, she built a citadel overlooking the sea, and safely fortified in case her 
brother should try to disturb them. After the custom in the mother country, this citadel 
was called Bosra, or the fortification. The Greek meaning of this word was "the hide 
of a bull," and so there was a story told that when Dido was bargaining with the Numid- 
ian king for a piece of land, he said she might have as much as could be enclosed by a 
bullock's hide. The princess agreed; and at once set her men to work at cutting the 
hide into small thongs, which were fastened end to end, and made to surround a large 
tract, which embraced nearly the entire peninsula. 

Work was begun at once on building a city, which was called Carthage, the " New 
City." Dido became queen, and a flourishing state sprang up, which soon rivaled 
Tyre and all othei Phoenician colonies. This was probably about 870 B.C., or some- 
where near a hundred years before the foundation of Rome. In Virgil's great poem of 
the Aeneid, there is a story of the storm-tossed traveler ^Eneas landing at Carthage — 
then being built — and enjoying the hospitality and society of Dido. It is said that 
gratitude was never more beautifully expressed than in the great Latin poet's lines, 
where yEneas says to Dido: " While streams flow to the sea, while shadows creep along 
the sides of the mountains, while the sky feeds upon stars, always honor and praise shall 



Carthage. 1 69 

be to thy name, whatever lands call me ; ' ' and it is said that no more beautiful and 
modest answer was ever given to a grateful testimony, than the fair Queen's reply: " By 
knowing distress myself I have learned how to succor the wretched." It was about 
three hundred years after Dido's time that the affairs of Carthage came into the general 
history of the world surrounding the Mediterranean. Cambyses of Persia having con- 
quered Egypt, resolved to gain the beautiful prize of the great maritime city on the 
African coast; but the Phoenician sailors, whom he had to employ, since Persians were 
no navigators, refused to make war on their own children, as they called them, because 
the Carthaginians had been Tyrians, and the Tyrians had been Phoenicians, and the 
larger part of the nation which had grown out of Dido's colony were Phoenicians or their 
descendants. Although the expedition thus thwarted failed, it called a great deal of 
attention to the city. In about 500 B.C., it made a treaty with the infant republic of 
Rome, and soon after became a marked port, toward which the eyes of all nations turned. 
Xerxes, in his mighty scheme for conquering Greece, is said to have obtained their help, 
and to have arranged a plan for them to invade Sicily, while he made an attack upon 
the main land. The Carthaginians said, that when they invaded the island, it was as 
allies of one faction in a civil war; and perhaps it is true that Xerxes had nothing to do 
with it; but at any rate, in the year 480 B.C., three hundred thousand men from the great 
African state landed at Panormus in Sicily, under the leadership of Hamilcar, the first 
of several great generals of that name. The army was defeated; most of the ships 
captured and destroyed, and the general was slain. The people afterward professed 
him a god and worshiped his spirit, as they did that of Dido. For seventy years 
after that there was a deadly feud between the Greek Sicilians and the Carthaginians; 
the invaders contented themselves with holding three manufacturing towns on the 
coast, and leaving the remainder of the island to the Greeks, but in about 410 B.C. 
they laid plans for adding the whole of this fertile island to Sardinia and their other 
possessions round about. Their invasion was successful, but after they had obtained 
the prize, their army was partially destroyed, and their people much reduced by plague, 
so they were only able to keep a part. For a couple of centuries, sometimes in peace, 
and sometimes with war, Carthage kept this hold in Sicily, while her conquests else- 
where were steadily increasing and adding to her power, wealth and fame. 

Notwithstanding the treaty, which was twice renewed, this nourishing rival was more 
than the arrogant Roman nation could endure. When once they had seen the grandeur 
of the Carthaginian fleets as they happened to lay off Ostia and Tarentum, their jealousy 
was so roused that they secretly hoped an opportunity would come which might give rise 
to open war. Presently they found this, when Roman troops were appealed to for aid in 
settling some trouble between a robber colony in Sicily and the kingdom of Syracuse. 
Another party asked help of the Carthaginians, which went speedily, while Rome delayed. 
They finally appeared, however, and the two armies met and in no great friendliness, for 



jyo Cities of the Ancient World. 

the Romans, after driving back the king of Syracuse, fell upon the Carthaginian general 
Hanno, and defeated him in an unlooked-for combat. This made an open breach, which 
was the Romans' long desired opportunity; and now that they had landed in Sicily, they 
determined to have war with their African rival, which in their Latin tongue they called the 
Punic nation, that is the Phoenicians. The haughty Senate of the north entered lightly 
upon the struggle; it could not foresee that it was but the first step to a series of wars that 
would last for over a century, and finally become a desperate conflict, not for glory, but 
to save the life of the Roman nation. " Carthage was a powerful maritime and com- 
mercial state, in the height of her power and resources, with Spain and Africa at her 
back, and with the first general of the age, perhaps of all ages, to command her vast and 
experienced armies." 

The first Punic war lasted twenty-four years, and ended in a naval defeat for Carthage, 
with the loss of her Sicilian territory and the islands lying between it and Italy, with 
the paying of over three thousand talents of silver, and restoring the Roman prisoners 
without ransom. Then a peace was made with the military commander Hamilcar, who 
had not come into command until toward the close of the war. Both sides had but ordi- 
nary leaders until the appearance of young Hamilcar, who was surnamed Barca, which 
means lightning. But for him the defeat would have been even worse. Shortly after 
the close of the war, he went to the Carthaginian territory in Spain, where his plan was 
to found an empire, which would increase the power and wealth of his nation, make up 
to her the loss of Sicily and Sardinia, and establish a formidable power against Rome. 
His military wisdom and genius, his power over people and winning qualities made his 
enterprise most successful. He extended the Carthaginian dominion, raised and disci- 
plined vast armies, and in all ways opened up immense resources of the country like a 
great general, while he governed the country like a truly noble sovereign. He threw his 
whole soul into the great work, and when he died, left it in the able hands of his son-in-law 
Hasdrubal, and his young son Hannibal. For eight years after the wise old founder's 
death, Hasdrubal carried out his plans, consolidating the new kingdom, founding 
towns, one of which was the celebrated New Carthage, and endeavoring in all ways 
possible to a wise general and skillful statesman to establish a flourishing and well- 
organized kingdom. It was so successful, too, that Rome became alarmed to see her 
rival and enemy in possession of all the southern part of the large peninsula, with its 
rich mines and hardy soldiers. 

Soon there was another rupture, which is known as the Second Punic War, and is 
especially famous for the deeds of the Carthaginian general Hannibal. When old 
Hamilcar in the prime of his young manhood was setting out for Spain, he expected to 
leave his nine-year-old son behind in the fair mother-city; but the little fellow pleaded 
to go so earnestly that the father hesitated. " You may, if you will promise that when 
you grow up you will be an enemy to that great nation in the North, which covets our 



Carthage. 



171 



wealth and our power, and would take our very homes away from us down here at Car- 
thage." "Father, I will," the little soldier answered; and then the careworn, manly 
warrior and the fair, bright-faced boy went together through the silent woods and into 
the temple of their country's gods. There, in the solemn quiet, little Hannibal stood 
before the shrine, and looking up at the statue of the great deity, he swore his father's 
oath: — "eternal hate to Rome." Now the father was gone, the new kingdom was 
flourishing, and the time had come to fill his vow. The Second Punic War, which 




HANNIBAL 

began in about 218 B.C., is one of the best known conflicts in ancient history. There 
were great armies, famous generals and long, terrible battles in that conflict; but 
through all the smoke, and above all the roar of clashing arms there rose the one 
figure and sounded the one voice of Hannibal. " He was the hero of the whole 
contest, one of the purest and noblest characters in history — a man of whom we know 
nothing save from his foes, and all their wrath and envy have not been able to dis- 



172 Cities of the Ancient World. 

figure the portrait, which the facts have forced them to hand down to future ages. ' 
Great as a statesman, supremely great as a soldier, beloved by his troops, and justly 
dreaded by the most warlike people of the ancient world, Hannibal stands forth an object 
of the highest admiration and esteem; two of the ablest generals that ever lived, 
Napoleon and Wellington, both pronounced him to be the greatest of all commanders. 
"He crossed the Alps after a five months' march from Spain, for fifteen years main- 
tained his ground in Italy itself, defeating the Romans again and again, opposed to the 
cautious Fabius Maximus and the daring Marcellus, but withal he was unable to capture 
Rome, or to subdue Roman steadfastness and courage." It was an unequal contest. 
Rome had many generals; Carthage only one, and to him she gave but poor support. 
Wherever there was danger he was needed. When Scipio landed in Africa and threat- 
ened the old city itself, Hannibal was called home. The two generals met in the battle 
of Zama. Hannibal lost his army, and his country her independence. Spain, Sardinia 
and all the foreign possessions were given up; the navy was reduced to ten ships; all 
military power was broken, and the city was not to go to war again without Rome's con- 
sent; last of all there was a great deal of money to be paid as war indemnity, or sort of 
damages. But even this sad fate did not break the proud spirit of old Hamilcar's great 
son. He began right away to improve the condition of Carthage; since that was all they 
had left; but the state was run down; the oligarchy was in the hands of men who were 
willing to submit to Rome, and would not support their friend and her great enemy; 
beside they were jealous of Hannibal's nobility, genius, and heroism; and laid a snare 
by which to deliver him into the hands of the Romans, so that he fled to Syria, but was 
so tracked from place to place by his foes, that he poisoned himself. Carthage had 
turned against him, and in doing that had rid herself of all Rome had to fear; so wit.i 
one more effort in a four years' war the city was entirely destroyed, " the victim of 
Roman ambition." 

The island of Sicily was but about a hundred miles from Carthage. On its southern 
shore there were several important places, the greatest of which was Agrigentum. It 
was founded in 582 B.C., by a branch of the Grecian people, called the Dorians. It 
grew very rapidly, and soon became one of the most powerful and prosperous of ancient 
Mediterranean cities; it was celebrated for the grandeur of its public buildings, and 
within a century after its foundation it was called by the celebrated Grecian poet Pindar, 
" the fairest of mortal cities." In the early part of the third century B.C., it was prob- 
ably the largest and most magnificent city in any portion of the Greek dominions. In 
the early part of its history it was ruled by Phalaris, whose name has been handed down 
as that of the cruelest tyrant that ever lived. He reigned for sixteen years, putting to 
death every great man of his dominions for fear of being rivaled, extending his territory 
by the aid of hired armies; and entertaining himself with most atrocious cruelties. The 
story is told that at one time he caused a man named Perillus to make a great bull of 



Syracuse. 1 73 

brass, in which he roasted people alive, seizing Perillus for his first victim. For this 
inhuman deed, and many others like it, the name of the tyrant of Agrigentum has been 
handed down as a byword, and as " cruel as Phalaris," is the last degree of comparison 
for inhuman conduct. His cruelties made him so hateful to all the people, that they 
suddenly rose in indignation and put him to death. After the Carthaginians had made 
up their minds to become masters of Sicily, Agrigentum was one of the first places they 
attacked. Its two hundred thousand people were unable to cope with the great southern 
forces. The city was sacked and destroyed in 405. But it soon rose again, although 
never to so great power and beauty. In the course of the Punic War it fell under the 
Romans. The site is now occupied by the town of Girgenti. 

The most famous of all Sicilian cities was Syracuse, which rose after the palmy days 
of Agrigentum. It was founded about the same time as Rome, that is some time in 700 
B.C., by Archias, a noble Corinthian. He set out from the fair city of the Peloponnesean 
isthmus, with a number of his countrymen, to find a location in the far west. They 
finally settled upon the island of Ortygia, near the eastern coast of Sicily; here they 
established a city and a colony, which became the most famous and powerful city of all 
on that celebrated island, and grew finally to be the center of importance and interest 
in the history of the Sicilian Greeks. Ortygia was only about a mile long, and half 
a mile broad, but the settlement was soon extended to the main land; and had several 
large quarters on the peninsula, near by, at the mouth of the River Anapus. It then 
consisted of five separate districts, with two fine harbors, one on the west of the island 
at the mouth of the river was a very large and splendid natural bay five miles in circum- 
ference. This was called the Great Port; the other, known as the Little Port, was 
sheltered by the island on the south, and the main-land on the north and west. It was 
also called Laccius, and was spacious enough to receive a large fleet of ships. 

On Ortygia, overlooking the docks and wharves of the strong Syracusan navy, stood 
the castle or citadel, fronting the main-land. Above, lay the "outer city" defended 
on the land side by a stout wall and the natural formation of the ground, which was in 
some places very steep; the protection toward the Mediterranean on the north and east 
was a high, solid sea-wall that it was almost impossible to overcome. This quarter be- 
came the largest and most thickly settled of any in the city, containing the market-place 
— called by the Greek name of agora — a temple of Zeus, the Prytaneum, or town hall, 
with splendid statues, one of which was a figure of the Greek poetess Sappho, whose 
Ode to Aphrodite is one of the most beautiful lyrics that was ever written in any lan- 
guage. This was one of the chief places in the city, where the magistrates called 
Prytanes held their assemblies and had great dinners: when any one did a special 
service to the state, he was invited to the Prytaneum, honored with a reception, and 
entertained at public expense. 

To the north-west of the outer city, there were new quarters called Tyche and 



174 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Neapolis, which were at first unfortified suburbs, but afterward enclosed within the walls. 
Between them the ground rose gently to the summit of hills called Epipolae, which ran 
westward from about the center of Syracuse; near the foot of the first rise was the sacred 
grove and temple of Apollo. There was a low and rather marshy stretch of ground 
between Neapolis, the New City, and Ortygia, which was used partly for a burial 
ground, and partly for games and religious processions. Neapolis grew from a mere 
adjoining district of Ortygia to one of the finest parts of the city, containing the theater, 
amphitheater cut out of the solid rock, and many of the greatest of the temples and 
public buildings. Here and in other quarters there were rich palaces and villas, aque- 
ducts, magnificent baths, and a famous spring called the Fountain of Arethusa. Like 
that of many Grecian colonies, the early government of Syracuse was an oligarchy, — 
that is, it was in the hands of a few persons. A small number of rich and powerful 
families managed everything, while the mass of the people formed a large and discon- 
tented party, called a democracy, which broke out into a revolution in 486; but before 
long it was peaceably flourishing again under the rule of a great statesman called Gelon. 
He was a wise and popular leader, who warded off the Carthaginian enemie's, and kept 
the state in peace abroad; who extended the size of the city and increased her import- 
ance in wealth and military prowess. After his death, the same progressive govern- 
ment was carried on by his brother, who was the famous Hieron, or Hiero. And at 
this time, about the middle of the fifth century B.C., Syracuse became not only fair, 
stately and beautiful to look at, powerful and flourishing as a state, but an attractive 
place for literary culture. The celebrated iEschylus visited it from Athens, and another 
poet, Pindar — one of the greatest of Grecian writers — was entertained at the court of 
Hiero, and wrote odes upon the victories won by the chariots of the Syracusan king at 
the Olympian contests. During this reign the Syracusans won a brilliant victory in re- 
pulsing an attack from the Athenians, who were now on the down-grade from their 
power. An English historian says: "It was the last effort of Athens for the empire 
of the world, and it was decisively fought and irretrievably lost. In a grand land-fight, 
and in a series of sea-encounters the Athenian military and naval force was utterly van- 
quished. 

Then, during many years of pride and power, Syracuse spread her sway over nearly 
all of Sicily, adding many rich cities to her domain, especially under the ruler Dionysius 
I., whom the Greeks called a Tyrant, meaning sole governor. But the state had a serious 
set-back in a struggle with Carthage; but she tried again before long, and was then success- 
ful. From the beginning the government of Syracuse was constantly changing between 
an oligarchy, a democracy, and a despotism. Toward the last of the third century B.C., 
the democracy then in power made considerable disturbance, and a descendant of old 
Gelon, named Hieron II., was chosen king. This opened a long, peaceful and pros- 
perous administration for the great city and her state. A treaty was made with Rome, 



Syracuse. 



75 



and for nearly fifty years the mistress of the North had a faithful ally in this master of 
the South. During the second Punic War their assistance to Rome was willingly given 
against their old enemy Carthage. In 216 B.C., the wise old king died, leaving a united 




PATMOS. 



state, and a city of grandeur and power linked to the Roman state; but the connection 
was easily broken by fooiish young Hieronymus who followed, and transferred his 
allegiance at once to Carthage. In scorching indignation and swift hatred Rome laid a 



1 7 6 Cities of the Ancient World. 

determined siege, which lasted for two years. She would have conquered the city in 
less time, if it had not been for the great mathematician Archimedes, who devoted 
himself and his great genius to inventions for defending his native city. There are 
wonderful stories told of his contrivances. One is that he made huge engines, which 
lifted the Roman ships entirely out of the water, and let them drop with so much force 
that they sunk; he is also said to have set other vessels on fire by means of burning 
glasses used in the sun. These may be exaggerations, but it is certainly true that by 
his wonderful genius he kept the enemy at bay, and for a long time turned their siege 
into a blockade. He was so deeply at work on a problem when the city was entered, 
that he know nothing of it until he looked up from his desk and saw a Roman soldier 
beside him. Marcellus, who was at the head of the besieging army, had given orders 
that no harm should be allowed to befall the great philosopher, and even offered a reward 
to any one who should bring him safely to him; the soldier ordered the grand old man 
to go along as a prisoner, and when Archimedes refused, perhaps not knowing this was 
t.ie great genius of Syracuse, he drew a sword and killed him. Marcellus was very much 
grieved, and built a monument over his noble enemy's grave. From this time Syracuse 
wns no longer great. Like all other Sicilian cities under Rome, it sank to a town of 
small importance, which was almost completely destroyed by the Saracens. There is a 
village there now on the ancient Ortygia, which has become a peninsula linked by an 
istamus to the main island. 



ARABIA. 

THE vast oblong peninsula between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, Syria and the 
western arm of the Indian Ocean was portioned off by ancient geographers into 
three divisions. These were Petraea, or the Stony; Deserta, the Desert; and 
Felix, the Happy. Their boundary lines were not at all precisely reckoned, but Petraea 
was known as the north-western part of the country; Deserta included all the par- 
tially unexplored sandy regions of the interior, while Arabia Felix was the fertile land 
of the western and south-western coasts. In ancient times as now, the population was 
of two sorts of people, one nomadic or roving, the other settled and living in cities or 
towns. 

The Nomads are the tribes who have no homes, but live in tents, and rove from one 
part of the country to another, brave and hardy, but disliking any sort. of confinement. 
Bravely for thousands of years the Arabians maintained their freedom, their faith, 
and their peculiar customs against the assaults of nearly all the great military powers of 
antiquity; but there is very little known of them, because they kept to themselves a great 
deal and had but a small share in the world's progress. The most important monarchy 
that ever flourished in this country was that of Yemen or the Himyarites, in Arabia Felix, 
a prosperous and powerful state. The people were called Sabaeans, after Sheba or Saba, 
one of the early kings, and became a very wealthy and important trading nation; they 
made their capital at Mareb. This was situated on the large oasis of Jowf, which is 
even now a fruitful land covered with many villages. Their wealth and cultivation place 
the Sabaeans in a very prominent position among the ancient, half-barbarous Arabs. 
Their commerce with civilized nations led to civilization among themselves, and their 
enterprise led them to extend it wherever they went. 

The land of the Sabaeans was fertile and delightful. The wide plain was covered 
with luxuriant vegetation. The date palm flourished and noble orchards and rich vine- 
yards were most plentiful. But the winter torrents would sweep down the valley time 
after time, destroying everything in their path. Houses, harvests, vineyards and 

12 ,;; 



178 Cities of the Ancient World. 

orchards were swept away. Again and again destruction visited the fair and fertile 
valley, until at length one of the kings, Saba or Lokman, bethought him to raise up a 
barrier against these sweeping floods. A great rhole, or dike, was built across the valley, 
extending from one ridge of mountains to another. It was of solid masonry, with great 
blocks of marble cemented with bitumen and clamped with iron bars, and presented a 
strong barrier against the destroying waters. It rose to a great height above the city, 
and was so strong that many of the people built their houses on its side. This lofty 
dike converted fifteen or twenty miles of the valley into a noble lake a hundred and 
twenty feet in depth. This was fed by several streams, and a great number of sluices 
conducted its waters to the houses, the fields, and the gardens of the inhabitants. 
Thus Mareb became " the mistress of cities, a diadem on the brow of the universe." 

The Sabaeans were a noble people, unusually large and as princely in their appear- 
ance and actions as in their wealth and commercial power. Their devotion to the inde- 
pendence of their country kept them brave and spirited: they were famous navigators 
for those days; visiting other lands broadened their ideas, while the intercourse with 
foreign nations that they gained through travel and through controlling about the largest 
and richest trade in the world, gave them polish and self-respect in addition to immense 
wealth. The riches of the Sabseans were expended in education,"" art, literature, public 
improvement, and in luxurious living. The bulk of their trade was in gold, perfumes, 
spices and precious stones, and in addition to these articles they exported frankincense, 
myrrh, and other costly balsamic substances, which were more plentiful here than in 
any other part of the world. Ancient records relate that their commonest utensils were 
of gold and silver; their vases were fairly encrusted with gems, and spicy cinnamon 
wood was in every-day use for fires to warm the stately halls of the palace-homes of 
these ancient merchant princes, and to cook their food. The houses had pillars glisten- 
ing with gold and silver. The doors were of ivory, crowned with vases and studded 
with jewels, and valuable sculptures and other decorations of all kinds filled every apart- 
ment. Men and women wore richly embroidered mantles, beautifully wrought bracelets 
and necklaces of gold and glistening gems. The precious metal was so abundant that it 
was considered less valuable than silver, brass and iron. 

One ancient writer says Saba or Yemen abounded in every production that could 
make life happy. The soil not only yielding the usual vegetation of corn, wine and arti- 
cles of common food, but balm, cassia, incense, myrrh and cinnamon. The trees 
"wept odorous gums," and the gales were so perfumed with fragrance that the natives 
had frequently to freshen their sense of smell by burning pitch and goat's hair under 
their noses. One of the principal articles that grew wild was the celebrated incense, 
which the ancients used so largely in religious ceremonies. Immense quantities were 
gathered in Saba, and carried upon the backs of camels into other lands. One-tenth of 
all that was gathered was set aside for the deity of Saba. Old writers say that the shrub 




1-3, ARABIANS. 4-5, PHOENICIANS. 6-7, ASIATICS. 8, CYPRUS WOMAN. 9, SOLDIER 



Aden. 



1S1 



from which it was made grew in extremely unhealthy places, which were also difficult to 
reach, and infested with venomous serpents. None but slaves and malefactors were 
employed in gathering the incense, which belonged only to the government. Arabians 
believed that it was so jealously watched over by the gods that any one who tried to 
steal it was destroyed. 

The Sabasans held the key to the East, and through them the " riches of the Indies " 
had to pass on the way to the great trading cities of Egypt and Syria. Even when in 
about 275 B.C. Ptolemy Philadelphus established an Indian emporium in Egypt, the 
Sabasans held a monopoly of the trade. Some writers have said that no other nation 
had navigators brave enough to undertake the perilous voyages; others say that the 
Arab sailors would not tell what courses they followed to the country of riches, but took 
great pains to conceal the way and spread the idea that tremendous dangers were en- 
countered both on sea and land. Immense prices were paid for these luxuries. In the 
third century of the Roman Empire, a pound of silver and sometimes of gold was given 
for every pound of silk, and this material was then bought in enormous quantities. 
Perhaps one of the reasons that the Romans tried so hard to conquer Arabia, was 
because they could not bear to see their wealth thus flow into another's hands. 
The Sabaeans were themselves a colonizing people, and spread their civiliza- 
tion into other parts of Asia and Africa. The Arabs say that Balkis, one of their 
Sabaean queens, was the celebrated Queen of Seba or Sheba, that went so richly laden 
with presents to learn wisdom of King Solomon, and was afterward married to him; but 
the best historians say that this is not true. The celebrated queen was probably an 
Ethiopian monarch, although Abyssinians say that she was one of their early rulers. 

The Yemenite kings are said to have reigned nearly three thousand years, or from 
about 240 b.c. to 529 a.d.; during those centuries they commanded the entire southern 
half of the Arabian peninsula. All the people who lived in this territory had to obey 
the rulers of Yemen, and during some of the time the Northern Arabs also were under 
the power of Yemenite deputies, governors and tribute collectors. At last their sway 
was overthrown; the Abyssinians made the first really successful invasion ever known 
in Arabia in 529 a.d. In about seventy-five years the old kingdom was re-established, 
but as a part of the Persian empire; and in another quarter of a century it came under 
Mohammedan dominion. In the early part of the Christian era there was a great flood 
that destroyed Mareb, and from that time the seat of the Yemen government has been 
at Sanoa. 

The city of Aden, on the south-west coast of Arabia, was one of the chief sea-ports 
of Yemen. A British town now marks the site of the ancient city, on the upper shore 
of the Gulf of Aden. Vessels from India and other countries of the East touched here 
on their way to ports upon the Red Sea; and Arabian, Abyssinian, Nubian and Egyp- 
tian navigators made it a stopping place after going through the perilous Strait of Babel- 



1 82 Cities of the Ancient World. 

mandeb, " the Gate of Tears," e?i route to the Indian Ocean. The city had the double 
advantage of standing at the entrance to the great ocean of the ancients, whose waters 
washed lands that contained the richest products of the world; and at the gate of the 
Red Sea, toward which all vessels homeward bound from the East bent their course. It 
was advantageously situated in all ways, and until navigators began to go around Africa 
it was the greatest of all markets for every sort of Asiatic produce and manufactures. 
Even the Chinese traded here; and the population consisted of many people of differ- 
ent nations, who made the place wonderfully beautiful with Oriental richness. The 
natives sometimes called the city Athana ; but it was best known as Aden or Eden. 
This means paradise, and was given to the fair seaport on account of its wealth and 
beauty. It had then, as the little town has now, a most delightful climate. A cloudy 
day is very rare. Week after week the sun shines warmly and brightly, its heat tem- 
pered by cool sea breezes. It was well built, and had a magnificent system of cisterns 
for collecting the rain water from the circle of hills surrounding the city. These were 
large enough to hold thirty million gallons, and from them all the inhabitants and public 
places of Aden were bountifully supplied with clear, pure water. They are supposed 
to have been built some time during the Middle Ages. Aden stands on a high and rocky 
peninsula, in a valley that seems to be the crater of an extinct submarine volcano. It 
is connected with the mainland by a narrow, level and sandy isthmus. The great com- 
merce and flourishing condition of this port lasted from about two thousand years before 
Christ till some time during the Middle Ages. Under the Mohammedans it became a 
small and insignificant village. In 1838 it fell into the hands of Great Britain, and then 
began to improve, especially after the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, when the 
Red Sea became the great highway between Europe and Asia, and Aden's importance 
revived. It is now very thriving, with a busy population of thirty thousand people, who 
have gathered from all countries, east and west, north and south. 

The peninsula of Aden is connected with the legendary city of I rem or Arem, built by 
King Sheddah, who is said to have been the hero of many great exploits. Sheddah's royal 
father founded a city in the desert part of the peninsula, and when the son came to the 
throne, he took great pleasure in completing the work. He finished the buildings in 
the most stately and elegant fashion, and then raised a royal palace, which was a marvel 
of magnificence. The walls were laid of alternated bricks of gold and silver. The 
roof was of gold, inlaid with pearls and precious stones. Trees and shrubs were imi- 
tated in rare metals, with flowers and fruits of rubies, and with golden birds perched 
upon the branches; the stems were made hollow and filled with perfumes, so that every 
waft of air was laden with sweetest fragrance. Around the palace there were exten- 
sive gardens, laid out in imitation of the Garden of Eden, mentioned in the Scriptures. 
When all was finished Sheddah set out with a splendid retinue to inspect the grand 
establishment, which was designed to inspire his subjects with such veneration that they 



Ocadk. 183 

would believe him to be a god. But the Arab legend says, Heaven would not permit 
such pride to live, and when the party was within a day's journey a terrible noise from 
the sky frightened them all to death, and the city was made invisible, although it was 
not destroyed. 

Many of the great Yemenite sea-ports and cities are unknown now, even in name; 
and nearly all that we can learn of this powerful Arabian race is from a few ancient 
writers, who confined themselves mostly to general descriptions, and said very little 
about individual places. " The men of Dedan," the Scripture says, "were merchants 
in precious cloths for chariots," and the old Sicilian traveler Diodorus Siculus, said that 
all the treasures of the world seemed to center there in one universal mart. In the cen- 
tury about 200 b.c, before the Greeks ventured to navigate the Red Sea themselves, 
they used to purchase their cargoes of Arabia. But it was only a part of the commerce 
of ancient Arabia that was carried on by water. As far back as 2000 b.c. there were many 
lines of regular communication kept up by caravans. Over sandy waste and fertile plain 
the " ship of the desert" transported goods from sea to sea. Beside the articles that 
were common to the luxurious houses of wealthy Sabseans, these caravans transported 
large quantities of iron, lead, brass and tin mined from Arabia, Persia and the East; 
ivory, tortoise-shell and flint-glass from India; carved images, javelins, adzes, knives, 
awls and cloths of various kinds from the clever Arabian workmen; military cloaks, fine 
muslins, silks, linens, and other fabrics from home, from Mesopotamia and the wonder- 
ful looms of Persia, India and China. Beside the precious gums, frankincense and 
spices, there was sugar taken to the Mediterranean cities as a rare medicine. The finest 
was made in India, but Arabia also grew the cane, and made an inferior quality. The 
Greeks and Romans thought the crystals were formed naturally, in a species of reed. 

The ancient Arabs esteemed it one of the greatest things in the world to be a poet 
or orator, or to have a man so gifted in their tribe. Once a year a great fair was held 
for thirty days at Ocadh, when the merchants from the great cities, and the roving men 
of the different tribes had a large general meeting. Then the finest goods, the noblest 
horses, and the greatest poets were brought forward and judged with intense interest. 
No land on the globe has ever raised such horses as those of Arabia; and here there 
must have been magnificent displays of finely shaped steeds, intelligent, fleet and beau- 
tiful, loved as comrades by their owners, and cared for with devotion and often with 
self-sacrifice. The men took great pride in their horsemanship, and the more fiery the 
mettle of the steed the more highly he was prized. The most valuable breeds were 
raised in Nedjed. Next to being able to command a horse, the Arab desired expert- 
ness in the use of arms; next to that, he loved poetry and oratory. The Ocadh fair was 
an important occasion for showing the talents of the writers and speakers of a city or a 
tribe. The poets rose one after another before the vast assemblies and chanted their 
weird beautiful songs, relating national events of past history, and incidents of his own 



184 Cities of the Ancient World. 

time, tribe or native place. About the only records of Arabian history were kept in 
this way; the people's whole stock of useful and entertaining knowledge was treasured 
up in stories and poems. Writing was not in common use, so for the most part these 
treasures were stored in the memory alone, and it is no wonder that the country and 
people of ancient Arabia are pretty nearly unknown to us. The merits of these songs 
were not always judged the same by all, and sometimes differences of opinions arose as 
to who should have the prizes, which led to bitter quarrels and even to fighting. The 
poet or reciter who was acknowledged victor, was a great hero. His composition was 
inscribed in golden letters upon Egyptian paper, and hung up before the public in some 
temple. Seven only have been preserved, and these the Arabs say are the finest things 
that ever were written. Their poetry was full of beauty and spirit, especially that of 
the wandering Arabs. Their wild, free life, spent amidst grand mountain scenery, in 
hunting, fighting and on horseback; the noble, generous qualities of the leading men; 
the unselfish hospitality and many other fine traits common to all ranks, gave the poets 
inspiration; and the delight with which good verses were received encouraged the com- 
posers to do their best. But to every true Arab there was one thing that he regarded 
above poetry, horses and everything else, it was hospitality. No pilgrim, whether friend 
or enemy, out of the ranks of war, asked him in vain for shelter. He would even seek 
wayfarers to care for them, without any thought of return. On every hill the " fires of 
hospitality" were kindled at sunset, and the whole country for miles about a town or a 
camp, would blaze with red beacons of safety and care for benighted travelers. A 
stranger was entertained most royally; no provision was too good, and no danger was too 
great to be undertaken by any Arab host for the guest under his protection. The great 
chief Hatim, who is celebrated for having been so generous and hospitable, would leave 
his bed at any time, in the darkest or dreariest of nights, to procure light and comfort 
for any stranger who had found him among the lonely mountains by the barking of his 
dog. The good chief used to send the dog out to bark as a signal that rest and shelter 
could be found near by. 

The division of Arabia Petrsea lay at the head of the Red Sea, adjoining Syria on the 
north, and Egypt on the north-east. It was named from the city of Petra, in Idumsea. 
It was situated in the desert of Edom, about two days' journey from the Dead Sea, and 
seventy-two miles north-east of Akabah on an arm of the Red Sea. The solitary remains 
of this noted " rock-built city," are among the most sublime and mysterious of all the 
ruins of the old world. It is said to have been founded by the descendants of Esau, 
who settled among the mountains of Seir. 

" Rough as the hands of Esau is the site 
Of Edom's capital, yet fair her towers." 

It lay on the route traversed by the caravans which passed and repassed con- 
tinually between Syria and the trading cities on the Red Sea; its narrow, rocky 






Petra. 185 

valley, overhung by mountains, the highest of which is Mount Hor, where Aaron died 
and was buried. The valley is an irregular rocky basin, about two miles in length, 
by a half mile in width, with the sides walled up by perpendicular rocks, from 
four hundred to six or seven hundred feet in height. Small side valleys open into the 
principal one, giving an irregular outline to the city, whose whole circumference was not 
much over four miles. A river flowed through the valley, and springing fountains gave 
forth a plentiful supply of water; the city was entered through a defile of rocks, so 
narrow that often there was barely room for two horsemen to ride abreast. Long cara- 
vans of Eastern merchants wound their way in ancient times through this cramped pas- 
sage amidst the tombs. Cut in the rocks, at various heights, the sepulchres of many great 
men of Old Testament times were made, for Petra was a chosen spot for burial; toward 
the city the tombs grow more and more frequent, until at length they form a continued 
street of the dead. 

Opposite where the mouth of this gorge opened upon the city, stood the great Tem- 
ple of Petra, called the " Treasure House/' It was a glorious thing to come upon after 
journeying through the solemn rock-bound roadway of the mountains, and was worthy 
this description from a celebrated traveler: " Winding along the gloomy passage, the 
beautiful facade of a temple burst on our view. A statue of Victory with wings filled 
the center of an aperture like an attic window, while groups of colossal figures were 
placed on each side of a colonnaded portico of lofty proportions, comprising two stories. 
The temple was entirely excavated from the solid rock, and preserved from the ravages 
of time and the weather by the massive projections of the natural cliffs above, in a state 
of exquisite and inconceivable perfection; but the interior chambers were comparatively 
small, and appeared unworthy of so magnificent a portico. On the summit of the front 
was placed a vase, hewn also out of the solid rock, conceived by the Arabs to be filled 
with the most valuable treasure, but its lofty position made it quite out of reach. Almost 
all the important buildings of the beautiful city were hewn out of the solid rock, richly 
colored and covered with delicate ornamentations, which the dry climate and sheltered 
position have preserved in a wonderful manner. The front of the entire mountain by 
which the valley is surrounded, was occupied by magnificently cut-out temples, with 
lofty pillars and rich capitals, with richly ornamented roofs, chambers, shrines and many 
beauties chiseled out of the bare rock. There were public buildings, dwellings, and 
tombs without number extending into the ravines and gorges which radiate on all sides 
from this enclosed area. They reached along the roads leading to the place, making 
extensive suburbs to the city. They rose one above another in the face of the cliff, and 
flights of steps cut into the rock, lead in all directions to these dwellings, first occupied 
by the living and at length used entirely as dwellings for the dead. Some of these 
tombs are from three to four hundred feet above the level of the valley. In some cases 
the most secluded and inaccessible cliffs were chosen, and in others the most conspicu- 



1 86 Cities of the Ancient World. 

ous situations were sought. Some of the flights of steps are very high, and occasionally, 
far up in the mountain side, quite cut off from the city below, a long series of steps seem 
to rise from the very edge of a precipice. No doubt the ascent was easily made in 
ancient times, where now only a channel for the mountain streams appears. 

" These" rocky tombs differ as much in form, dimensions and ornamentation, as in 
situation. Many consist of a single chamber, ten, fifteen or twenty feet square, by ten 
or twelve in height, containing recesses in the wall large enough to receive the deposits. 
Sometimes deep graves are sunk in the recesses, or in the floor of the principal room. 
The inner part of the tombs have no ornamentation, but a vast number of the exca- 
vations are enriched with elaborate architecture. These tombs are now the great and 
peculiar attraction of Petra, and show us what taste and skill were possessed by one of 
the most ancient races of men. The front of the mountain is wrought into facades of 
splendid temples, rivaling in their aspect and symmetry the most celebrated monu- 
ments of Grecian art. Columns of various orders, graceful pediments, broad rich entab- 
latures, and sometimes statuary, all hewn out of the solid rock, and still forming part of 
the native mass, transform the base of the mountain into a vast splendid, pile of archi- 
tecture, while the overhanging cliffs, towering above in shapes as rugged and wild as any 
on which the eye ever rested, form the most striking and curious of contrasts." 

The most beautiful effects of these monuments are produced by the rich and varied 
colors of the sandstone rock, in which they are carved. In many cases the stone is of 
a dull brick-red, but in others it is almost scarlet, with the most brilliant and beautiful 
effects. There are reds, purples, yellows, blues, blacks and whites, rising in successive 
sandstone layers, or blended in charming combination. The red shades gradually 
becoming lovely rose or pale pink, and the white, often as pure as spotless snow, is now 
and then just flecked with red or blue. The yellow of the rocks of Petra is as brilliant 
as that of saffron, and the blue is like the blue of the heavens above the towering cliffs, 
hewn into tall, graceful columns and graceful structures, all of the same sandstone, in 
soft and brilliant colors. One of the especially large and magnificent buildings of Petra 
was the Theater. It had seating room for nearly four thousand people, and was partially 
cut out of the rock, and partly built up with elaborate stone architecture. Here, in the 
time when the Idumean kingdom was opulent and powerful, with a population of over 
twenty thousand, vast crowds gathered to public entertainments, and among the Edomite 
citizens were many foreigners, for Petra was an attractive capital and the point to which 
all the Arabians tended from the three sides of their peninsula. Most of the buildings 
were designed after the style of the Greeks, but some of the stately structures had also 
an Egyptian appearance. One of these is now known as Pharaoh's Palace; it was a mas- 
sive house, thirty-four paces square, with walls surmounted by a handsome cornice, and 
a fine front ornamented by a row of columns. An open piazza ran the whole length 
behind the colonnade; and beyond that, a noble arch, about forty feet high, led into one 



Bozrah. 187 

of the main halls of the building. The cliff-sheltered city was overlooked and strongly 
fortified by a rocky citadel or acropolis, and surrounded by walls. In the third or fourth 
century b.c. an Arab tribe took it from the Edomites or Idumeans, and made it the seat 
of a great transit trade between the eastern and western parts of the world. It had a 
wide fame then, and was visited by many foreigners. Imperial Rome, flourishing under 
Augustus, heard of its wealth and beauty, and felt desirous of adding it to its dominions 
in the East. So, the fair city with its surroundings became a dependency, and was 
finally an important military post, which was held by the Romans and also by their Per- 
sian enemies. After several stormy centuries, when northern Arabia and Syria was the 
battle ground between the armies of Rome and Persia, Petra fell under the Moham- 
medans, who destroyed it so thoroughly that for twelve hundred years even its site was 
unknown. In the early part of the present century the grand ruins now seen were 
discovered, and it was found that this sheltered valley of Edom contained the remains 
of the celebrated city. 

The ancient Bozrah, spoken of in the Scriptures, was situated about eighty miles 
south of Damascus, in an oasis of a desert on the southern boundary of Hauran. Here 
the Roman post of Bostra stood, and the present village of Buslim is. It was one of 
the greatest and most magnificent cities east of the Jordan. The district of Hauran 
proper, in which the city lay, is rf rich plain of almost unsurpassed fertility. Not a rock 
or stone can be seen save on the little cone-like hills that rise up here and there. Cities 
and villages were thickly scattered over the plain; wealth, life and prosperity centered 
around the capital. Massive "walls, four miles in circumference, encircled it, with a for- 
tification built of moderate sized stones, strongly cemented together. The circuit was of 
an oval shape, its greatest length being from east to west. There was a city within and 
without the walls; the area enclosed was about a mile broad and less than a mile and 
a half long, while the suburbs lay about on the east, north and west. The principal 
buildings were on the east side, extending thence toward the middle of the city; on 
the south and south-east were private dwellings, built in a very remarkable manner. The 
roofs were flat, and of solid stone; the massive doors and window-shutters were also 
of stone, that in many cases still remain perfectly preserved. From the dates found on 
the ruins and from the style of architecture, it is thought that this is the city to which 
Moses referred, as fenced with high walls, gates, and bars. It was the great strength 
of the citadel, which was widely celebrated in ancient times, that probably gave the city 
its name; Bozrah means a fortification or enclosure. On the west side, numerous 
springs of fresh water now gush out of the ground, which long ago may have fed those 
"vineyards of Bozrah" for which the city was celebrated, and which once flourished 
abundantly. The people took great pride in the appearance of their city; they raised 
temples, palaces and several theaters, and the citadel or castle was one of the largest 
and strongest in the country. It had immense accommodations for a garrison, and 



1 88 Cities of the Ancient World. 

among other objects of interest within its stout walls was a beautiful theater. Under 
the Roman rule, in the year 105, Trajan made the city the capital of the Roman prov- 
ince of Arabia, and it became very beautiful. Many of the glories of ancient times 
were restored, and fine new buildings were erected; there was a temple for the worship 
of Roman deities; an aqueduct that supplied the fountains in the streets carried water 
to the public baths. The Romans lived here according to their own customs, and the 
conquered Arabians made themselves as happy as they could under western civiliza- 
tion. Triumphal arches stood in several prominent public places, and in various quar- 
ters smaller gateways spanned the road. By the time of Constantine there had been 
several changes in Bozrah; a native prince had ascended the throne after Alexander 
Severus, and now it was in the hands of the Christians; but when Mohammedan power 
rose this was one of the first places subjected to the followers of the Prophet, and dur- 
ing the Crusades, all attempts to take it from their hands were unsuccessful. 



PERSIA. 

THE six hundred thousand square miles of Western Asia now known as Persia is but 
a small part of the territory which, in ancient days, was included under this 
name. The vast tract extended from Arabia and the Mediterranean to the Indies 
and the Himalayas on the east, and to Scythia, the Caspian and the Black Sea on the 
north. It even included Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and a small part of Europe. Arabia 
was the only country of what was then called the Western World, that the great Persian 
Empire did not embrace. Persia proper, or Persis, was a district of about a hundred 
square miles lying on the eastern coast of the Persian Gulf. Along the shore, the whole 
length of Persis was a tract of sandy plain which was the hottest district of western Asia; 
it was often very salty, always poor and ill-watered. But this was only about an eighth 
part of the province, and was merely a strip of lowland between the seashore and the 
mountain lands, which formed the chief part of ancient Persia. This high country con- 
sists of alternate mountain, plain, and narrow valley, curiously combined. In some 
places it is rich and fertile, with lovely wooded dells, green mountain-sides and broad 
plains, where almost any crops will grow. The water supply is small; many of the 
streams that rise in the mountains lose themselves in the sand or end in small salt 
lakes; but there are underground channels of spring water which keep the land from 
being too dry. In some places there are a few large rivers and lakes, and at the foot 
of the great gorges that pierce the lofty hills there are clear mountain streams. These 
last are in the most remarkable part of the country. Scarped rocks rise almost perpen- 
dicularly on either side the streams, which descend rapidly with many cascades and falls. 
Along the slight irregularities of these rocks, roads are cut in zigzags, often crossing 
the streams from side to side by bridges of a single arch, which are thrown over pro- 
found chasms where the waters chafe and roar many hundred feet below. The roads 
for the most part are not natural, but have been cut in the sides of the precipices, 
which sometimes tower two thousand feet above the streams. 

This mountainous district was a great plateau that formed the heart of the Persian 
country, with its fertile soil and pleasant climate, its grand defenses of vast deserts on 
the north and east, and an unusually strong and rugged mountain barrier on the south. It 



190 Cities of the Ancient World. 

has been at all times the chosen site for the principal Persian cities. On one of its broad 
hill-encircled plains the first capital, Pasargadse, was built. It was the favorite home 
of the Persian monarchs, and is said to have stood near the site of the modern place 
called Murgab; a famous capital of a famous land that was once the mistress of the 
eastern worldy an empire of noble cities, nourishing towns, and broad, highly cultivated 
fields. The ancient capital, with its stout walls, great temples and extensive palaces, 
lay on the river Cyrus or Kores; in various directions there were small streams that 
watered the plain on their way westward to the great Pulwar. Here the great royal 
palace stood, and the treasury of the empire; here the Persian kings were consecrated 
by the Magi, and all the other great royal or national ceremonies were held. Even in 
the first centuries of the monarchy the Persians were very skillful architects, and raised 
magnificent buildings to adorn their capital. The chief of these were probably royal 
palaces, for among the nations of the East the king was almost worshiped, and the 
grandeur and riches of the entire country were mainly gathered about him. 

One of the chief buildings at Pasargadse was in the form of a great oblong a hundred 
and fifty feet long, surrounded by a lofty wall, built of stone blocks; it had huge portals 
and on the jamb of each were the words, " I am Cyrus, the King, the Achsemenian." 
A colonnade is said to have skirted the inner face of . the wall, and beyond it stood a 
noble pillared building that towered far above the height of the enclosure. Near by 
there was another and a somewhat smaller pillared hall. This was built in a different 
style, but had the same curt legend, " I am Cyrus, the King, the Achaemenian." It was 
upon a square column in front, that was sculptured with a curious figure from Persian 
mythology. In another part of the city there was a massive platform probably built for 
a temple or for open-air ceremonies. It is still standing, and its great square blocks of 
stone, often eight or ten feet long, show what beautiful durable work the ancient Persians 
did twenty-five hundred years ago. In this vicinity there was another building, prob- 
ably a great temple, whose square tower of blocks of hewn stone still stands over forty 
feet high. It is thought to have been used for fire-altars. The religion of ancient Per- 
sia consisted in the worship of two great beings, the principle of Good and the principle 
of Evil. The legend is that Ormuzd, the pure, the gracious, the perfectly good, from 
afar saw Ahriman, the dark, the unclean, the spirit capable of all evil. Startled at the 
sight, he set himself at once to put this enemy out of the way; and from that time all 
that was good was brought into existence by Ormuzd. He was the god of good, whom 
the Persians credited with creating all their benefits, especially the sun, the moon, the 
stars, the elements, and above all fire. The people worshiped these, and in their honor 
had a priesthood called the Magi. 

They were the "most reverend of the Persians, an important body of men, who 
were the "keepers of the sacred things," the learned of the people, the philosophers 
and servants of God." They had charge of educating the young princes, and were the 




IO, PERSIAN KING. 1 1 -I 2, PERSIANS. I3-16, MEDES. I 7, BODY-GUARD. 



Pasargadcz. 193 

constant companions of the King. Nothing of importance was undertaken without con- 
sulting them, or against their advice. They were supposed to be able to read the future, 
and by consulting the stars to interpret dreams and explain visions, while it also lay 
in their power to call up the dead. The Zend Avesta, their sacred book, claims to be 
the revelation of universal knowledge, and teaches a lofty morality, and in many ways 
makes very clear the distinction between good and evil, between the spirit of light and 
the spirit of darkness. Gradually their influence waned, although it was once strong 
enough to raise them even to the throne; from being the highest caste, the priests of 
God, and the " pure of mind, heart and hand," they fell to the rank of wandering jug- 
glers, fortune tellers and quacks, and from them the word magic came to signify tricks 
in sleight-of-hand and conjuring. 

The most important object at Pasargadse was, and now is, the tomb of Cyrus the 
Great. He who had built the city and founded the empire of which it was the capital, 
was carried here to rest, after his last great battle. An old Greek historian called the 
famous tomb "a house upon a pedestal," and that is just what it looks like. The 
" house " is small, of beautiful white marble, crowned by a stone roof with pediments 
at either end, above an elegant cornice, like a Greek temple. It stands on a base that 
is built like a pyramid, with seven steps, made of huge marble blocks. On a great stone 
of the base, there is an inscription that reads: " O mortals, I am Cyrus, son of Camby- 
ses, founder of the Persian monarchy, and sovereign of Asia: grudge me not, therefore, 
this monument." 

There are no windows in the " house," but at one end a low and narrow door-way, 
doubly recessed and ornamented with mouldings, opens into the chamber of the great 
king. This is a small, perfectly plain cell about eleven feet long, seven broad, and 
seven high, where in the year B.C. 529 Cyrus the Great was laid in a golden coffin, hung 
with coverings of purple and carpets of Babylon. The "house" stood in an oblong 
enclosure made by rows of pillars, or a colonnade. There were twenty-four columns 
altogether, six on each side, placed about fourteen feet apart. This tomb of Cyrus is 
the finest and the oldest certain relic of ancient Persia. Other royal sepulchres were 
hewn out of the rocks in the mountain sides; but this was a beautiful little edifice, quite 
unlike anything else that the Persians are known to have built. A grove of beautiful 
trees surrounded this " Royal Paradise," and in the vicinity there was a small house for 
the Magi who took care of the tomb. Near by there is a great block of marble about 
fifteen feet high, with relief sculpture of a curious figure of a colossal winged man wear- 
ing an Egyptian head-dress. This was probably intended to represent the king himself, 
or some good genius. Cyrus the Great was a king worthy of this noble monument and 
long-lasting tomb. He raised his country from a princedom under Media, to a mon- 
archy over many nations. He ended the barbarous feuds between petty kingdoms, that 
made western Asia a perpetual battle-ground. He was a half-barbarian, like all men of 
13 



194 Cities of the Ancient World. 

that age, but he was a great general and a powerful monarch, who gave settled homes 
to immense tribes, and made a mighty empire to nourish in wealth, culture and luxury. 
Unfortunately his half-savage people were not like the Greeks and others nations of later 
times; they could become truly civilized, but had to lose something of military skill, 
courage and self-control while they developed peaceful arts; so while Persia became 
exceedingly large and vastly rich, the luxurious life weakened the armies, and too 
much pleasure made the natures of the men coarse, heavy and selfish, unworthy of their 
empire and its founder. The name of Cyrus is famous now as the greatest king and 
the best man that ever sat on the Persian throne. 

The second capital of Persia was Persepolis, about forty miles by road south-west 
of Pasargadae. Its ruins are now called Chehel Minar, the Forty Pillars, and although 
twenty -two centuries have passed since the time of their glory, they still stand as "the 
most remarkable group of buildings in this part of Asia." It was further south than 
the first capital, but like that, it was near the edge of the plateau, with a mountain 
barrier to the south-west, and a desert not far away to the north-east. The plain on which 
it stood was much larger and more fertile than that lying about Pasargadae. It is called 
Merdasht, and all Persia knows the fame of its fertility, and the unfailing supply of 
water it has from the Bendamir and Pulwar rivers, which unite a few miles below Chehel 
Minar. 

Darius and Xerxes were probably the monarchs who made the new capital "the 
glory of the East," and the finest city then in existence. An ancient historian says: 
"A triple wall surrounded the place. The first wall was long and high, defended by 
parapets, and flanked with towers. The second wall was in form like the first, but twice 
the height. The third wall was a square, and cut in the mountain, being sixty cubits in 
height. The first wall is to inspire awe, the second for strength, and the last for the 
defense of the palace." The greatest buildings stood on an immense and very irregu- 
larly shaped platform hewn down from the natural rock, and then faced about with 
masonry. The platform abuts upon the high rocky hill known as the "Royal Moun- 
tain," and containing the tombs of the kings. The platform had several levels, the 
lowest being about twenty feet above the plain; the topmost was forty-five feet high. 
On it there were three distinct lines of walls and towers, and a great number of buildings 
occupying the various levels, the highest terrace being crowned by the noblest edifice of 
all. The stone used for the building was of a bluish-gray marble, in most cases highly 
polished. Once a dog belonging to a party of travelers was worked up to such fury by 
seeing his own image reflected on the walls, that his master was obliged to chain him 
and send him away. 

The platform is reached from the plain below by a vast double flight of steps, 
made of blocks of marble. Some of these are so large that twelve or fourteen steps 
were cut in a single stone; the blocks were massive and irregular, clamped with iron or 



Persepolis. 



195 



lead. The ascent is so gradual that a horse can easily be ridden up the staircase, and 
the space is broad enough for ten horsemen to go abreast. This celebrated ascent 
does not extend beyond the edge of the platform, but has been hewn out of the side. 
It is known as "the noblest flight of stairs to be found in any part of the world." 
Above this there is another, remarkable for its ornamentation. The main chamber 
of the palace was a grand and beautiful hall, fifty feet square, with a lofty ceiling 
held up by many light and slender columns. In the side walls there were window- 
recesses and handsomely sculptured doors, representing the great state and valor 




HALL OF XERXES IN PERSEPOLIS. 

of the king, and hung with brilliant curtains. The pillars, the ceiling, and the cold 
stone walls were probably all coated over with silver, and the pavement laid in many- 
colored stones, and in places covered with magnificent carpets or Persian rugs. It is 
likely that there was a high golden throne, under a purple canopy, at the upper end of 
the hall, filling the space between two carved doorways. At the back of this small but 
gorgeous chamber and at either side, there were moderate sized rooms, reached through 
doorways ornamented with reliefs picturing Persian attendants bearing napkins. Alto- 
gether the palace had only about twelve apartments; it was a simple oblong edifice 



1^6 Cities of the Ancient World. 

twenty-five feet high; it had no second story, and must have looked much like a simple 
Greek temple. It did not cover half as much space as the Assyrian palace, but the 
reason for this is said to be that there were other buildings close by for the king's 
household, and this palace was composed of only the public apartments, the throne- 
room, the banqueting rooms, and guard rooms. 

When Xerxes, and after him Artaxerxes, became monarchs of Persia, they each built 
new palaces on the platform. These were after the plan of Darius, but on a larger and 
grander scale; so you can imagine how stately and magnificent the great gray stone ter- 
race must have looked; one stage above another filled with elaborate buildings, leading 
up to the temple-like palace of Darius; on the summit vast sculptured staircases making 
deep recesses leading to them on all sides. About twenty-five yards from the palace 
of Xerxes was the king's dwelling house, used mainly as a summer residence; it was a 
long building facing the north, and occupying the entire southern half of the central 
platform. It was more on the extensive scale of the Assyrian palaces than some of 
the others, having many courts and wings, altogether covering a space about five hun- 
dred feet long by three hundred and seventy-five wide. The most magnificent of all 
the Persepolitan buildings were the two Great Pillared Halls, which are ranked as the 
"glory of Persian architecture." One of these, known as the Hall of a Hundred 
Columns, is nearly midway in the platform between its northern and its southern 
edges, and not very far from the rock precipice of the adjacent mountain. The 
Milan Cathedral is the only building now standing that approaches it in size. It is 
also said that this resembles it more in style and general effect than any other edi- 
fice. First there was entered a portico over a hundred and eighty feet long and fifty 
deep, its roof supported by sixteen pillars nearly forty feet high, and its portals guarded 
by colossal carved bulls. Behind this was the great hall, a square of two hundred and 
twenty-five feet, ornamented with sculptures and supported by one hundred beautiful col- 
umns, in ten rows of ten pillars each. The walls enclosing it were ten and a half feet 
thick, with two doorways at each end, exactly opposite one another. The sculptures in the 
hall represented the monarch crowned and sitting on his throne, or as fighting great mon- 
sters. On the doors at the back of the building there was the representation of a throne 
raised upon a lofty platform, with three stages supported by figures. There were deep 
niches and doorways in the walls around the hall, but very few windows, and most of 
the light probably came in through the roof, and fell upon the vast audiences or assem- 
blies that gathered in the presence of the king 

But the Hall of a Hundred Columns was scarcely to be compared with the 
other pillared hall, which is known as the Great Hall of Audience. This was 
the most remarkable of all palaces, gateways or public chambers in ancient Per- 
sia. It had four main apartments; the largest covered twenty thousand square 
feet, and was surrounded on its four equal sides by enormous pillars. They were 



Persepolis. 



197 



over sixty feet high, and beautifully made in fluting with sculptured lotus leaves 
hanging from them; bell-shaped vases, and capitals of carved griffins or bulls. Mag- 
nificent porches stood on three sides of the hall, at a distance of about seventy 
feet, with an unroofed space between. The entire structure, with its many sections, 
is believed to have had no walls at all, but to have been divided up by lines of 
pillars, " a summer throne-room, open to all the winds of heaven, except where it 
was protected by cur- 
tains." Many of the 
spaces between the outer- 
most pillars were filled 
with beautiful hangings 
of white, green and blue, 
which were fastened by 
cords of white and purple 
to silver rings attached 
to the columns. 

It is believed from 
the inscriptions found on 
these ruins, that the plat- 
form, the pillared colon- 
nade, and one of the 
palaces, were built by 
Darius, but that the 
others are due to Xerxes 
are Artaxerxes Oelius. 
The inscriptions on the 
doors of what is called 
the Palace of Darius, are 
probably the most an- 
cient that are found at 
Persepolis. They are 
thus translated : " Da- 
rius, the Great King, the King of Kings, the King of nations, the son of Hys- 
taspes the Achaemenian, he has executed this sculpture." Another inscription 
found on a huge slab of stone in one of the walls, says: " The great Ormuzd who 
is the chief of the gods, he established Darius King. He bestowed on him the 
empire. By the grace of Ormuzd, Darius King." The splendor of the ancient Per- 
sian court is vividly described in the Bible, especially in the book of Esther, which is a 
beautiful story of Eastern life at court. The proud monarch permitted only his seven 




ROCK GRAVE OF DARIUS 



198 Cities of the Ancient World. 

"chamberlains" to serve in his august presence. Other officers, no matter how high 
their rank, could be admitted to the royal presence only occasionally. Even the Queen 
herself was not expected to approach any nearer than the outer court, unless the mighty 
king graciously extended to her his golden scepter. It was a most royal picture when 
court was assembled; the monarch upon his gorgeous throne, his prime minister on the 
one side, his beautiful Queen on the other, and long lines of magnificently arrayed 
princes and nobles, to whom " he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom, and the 
honor of his excellent majesty," stretching out before him. At one time the king gave 
his great men a magnificent feast which lasted a hundred and four days. On another 
occasion he made a " feast unto the people, both unto great and small." This was held 
seven days in the court of the garden of the celebrated palace of Susa, which was sump- 
tuously decorated and furnished with "gold and silver couches upon a tesselated pave- 
ment of red and blue, white and black marble; golden vessels of exquisite shapes in 
which the wine called Royal was served." Nor was the splendor confined to royal pal- 
aces. Throughout all Persepolis there rose glittering palaces of men in lower rank, 
adorned and beautified with all that art and luxury could furnish. Splendid pageants 
passed through the beautiful streets to celebrate some decree of the monarch. When 
the king wished to honor one of his subjects the man was clothed in royal apparel, and 
privileged to ride forth upon the king's richly caparisoned steed, conducted by one of 
the noblest princes of the land. Heralds ran ahead proclaiming the king's desire, fol- 
lowed by the splendid retinue, which passed through the streets of the luxurious city. 

Persepolis was one of the chief burial places of the Persian kings. Two complete 
sepulchers remain on the hill in the city, and four more have been found in the neigh- 
borhood. The most remarkable of these tombs are the two nearest the Hall of Columns. 
They are in a niche, seventy-two feet broad by a hundred and thirty high, and are 
divided into compartments, each highly ornamented with sculpture. Beyond the doorway 
there is a chamber forty-six feet long and twenty broad, containing three small cells 
for bodies. 

After Persia, Media was the most important part of the Fifth Monarchy, as the great 
kingdom of Cyrus is called. The true name of the empire was that of the Medes and 
Persians, for before the conquest the Medes were a very powerful nation. For the 
most part, the land of Media occupied the great table-land that extends north and west 
of the mountains of Persia proper to the Caspian Sea. Its lofty hills enclose fertile val- 
leys which grew large crops of corn and fruit; and among the pastures of the Zagros 
Mountains, which bounded it on the east, some of the most splendid horses in the 
empire were raised. The Median monarchy was founded almost six hundred and fifty 
years before Christ, and lasted three quarters of a century. It was conquered by Cyrus 
and became part of the new kingdom of Persia. In early times the Medes were inde- 



Lower Ecbatana, or Agabatana. 199 

pendent and warlike, and distinguished as skillful archers. They were wonderful builders, 
too; and some of Persia's most celebrated cities lay within the Median boundary. The 
most important of all were the two Ecbatanas, one of which was the metropolis of the 
northern part of the country, while the other was the great city of the south. 

The real capital of the ancient kingdom was Lower Ecbatana, or Agabatana; it 
stood on a rich and fertile plain at the foot of Mount Orontes, a little to the east of the 
Zagros. The modern town of Hamadan stands there now. Full-flowing streams ran 
down the mountains on all sides of the plain, but especially in the north-west, where the 
land was, and is now, covered with a fair blooming carpet, ornamented with rills and 
many groves of large forest trees. While these beauties lay around the stately " treas- 
ure-city of Media," the snow-crowned summit of Mount Orontes towered above it, shining 
in spotless splendor all the year round. This mountain, now called Elwend or Erwend, 
is noted throughout the East for its mines, waters, and vegetable productions. It is 
believed by many to contain the philosopher's stone, and some of its grasses are said to 
have the power to transmute metals into gold and to cure diseases. 

The most celebrated building of Ecbatana was the Palace; it had been the model 
for those at Persepolis and other Persian cities, and was much like them in size and 
appearance. Instead of having stone columns, these courts and halls were set with 
wooden pillars, made of cedar and of cypress. They supported wooden beams, which 
crossed at right angles, while the decorations had wood-work in the spaces between. 
The entire building was covered by a sloping roof, which, with the colonnades outside, 
gave it much the same appearance as the Greek and Roman houses; but the roof of the 
Median palace was made of silver plates in the shape of tiles, while the pillars, beams, 
and other wood-work were coated with thin sheets of precious metals. Old Diodorus 
says that nearly two thousand years before Christ, the Assyrian queen Semiramis visited 
Ecbatana, and was so charmed with the beauty of the place that she resolved to live 
here, and built this palace and a great canal to supply it with water from Mount Orontes. 
The date of its building is uncertain, but we know that it was occupied by the Median 
monarchy, and that it became a favorite summer residence for the Persian kings after 
the conquest. It was magnificent from the first, and was altered and refurnished many 
times by the later rulers. Darius probably beautified it very much by adding marble 
columns to the rich ornamentation of the south. 

A short distance from the palace was the Acra, or citadel, a strongly defended 
castle which was used as the state treasury and a record office. Here the royal 
decrees and other public documents were put, and the greatest bulk of the king's 
wealth was kept. The seven thousand talents of silver, that history tells that 
Darius carried off when he fled from Alexander, were probably taken out of the 
Acra. It was built with extra care, and was made particularly solid because it 
was the only walled part of the city. Around it, or at its base, houses and public 



200 Cities of the Ancient World. 

buildings were clustered, and the business of one of the greatest cities of that time 
was carried on. The people were workmen in gold, silver, and bronze, making metal 
ornaments, which were worn a great deal, and beautifully polished weapons of war. The 
soil was tilled, but only in the rudest way, and small boats were built in which short 
voyages on lakes and rivers could be undertaken. The marriage ceremony of the 
Persians was very solemn; it was performed with the joining of hands, in some such way 
as the modern customs. Women were treated with honor, and children regarded as a 
joy and blessing. A boy was spoken of as a "giver of joy," an " increaser of happi- 
ness," and a girl as "she that causes rejoicing." The sister is " the good," "the 
friendly," while the brother is " he who supports," and "the nourisher of the family." 
Each tribe or clan was something like a large family; the chief like the father, at the 
head. He was chosen and installed in office on account of his wisdom and courage. 
The custom was to place him upon a stone, and perhaps it is from this that the ancient 
Scottish custom came of placing their kings upon the coronation stone. In war it was 
the king's business to lead, and great armies they were that followed with swords and 
pikes, javelins, bows and arrows, equipped with quiver, helmet, shield and breast-plate. 
The entire country was under the will of the monarch. His word was the highest law 
of the land, and was given in "decrees." These were issued from time to time, and 
after being copied by the royal secretaries, were sealed with the king's ring, and sent 
out by special messengers to the governors of each one of the one hundred and twenty- 
seven provinces, after which they became part of the " body of the law." The learned 
Magi also kept a book of records, or a history of all the important events of the empire, 
which the king used to consult for guidance, when he had any serious plans to carry 
out, or was in perplexity about warfare or government. If these records had not become 
lost or destroyed in some of the country's troubles, we should have a much greater 
knowledge of Persia; but, as it is, nearly all the history we have of them is from Jewish 
or Greek writers. 

One of the important events connected with Ecbatana, is the death of Hephaestion, 
the favorite and friend of Alexander, "whom he loved as his own spirit." Esther and 
Mordecai are said to have been buried here, and the place of their tomb is now reveren- 
tially pointed out by the natives. A translation of the Hebrew inscription still to be 
found on the tomb reads: " Mordecai, beloved and honored by a king, was great and 
good. His garments were as those of a sovereign. Ahasuerus" covered him with this 
rich dress, and also placed a golden chain around his neck. The city of Susa rejoiced 
at his honors and his high fortune became the glory of the Jews." Some remarkable 
inscriptions have been found at the foot of Mount Elwend, one of which is engraved on a 
block of red granite weighing many thousand tons. Arrow-headed writing in an excel- 
lent state of preservation is found on the block, which the natives say is the " History 
of the Treasure," and that this royal treasure will be found only by him who is able to 
decipher the inscription. 



Northern Ecbatana. 201 

Northern Ecbatana, now known as Takht-i-Suleiman, is said to have been founded by 
Solomon the son of David. Here he is believed to have held his magnificent court when 
the Queen of Sheba came from her distant palace to visit him, and after she became his 
wife he built a summer residence for her on the highest mountain peak adjoining the 
city. Herodotus says the city was founded by Dejoces, who called upon the people to 
spend no more time on their petty towns, till they had built one great royal city which 
should be the treasure-city of the kingdom. It consisted of a great citadel, enclosing the 
royal palace and great dwellings, and public buildings outside the walls. Later there was a 
common plan for laying out a city with the Medes and Persians. There were seven 
walls about the citadel of Northern Ecbatana; they were large and strong, built circle 
within circle, and so planned that each of the circles rose just the height of the battle- 
ment above the one beyond it. Within the last circle stood the royal palace and treas- 
uries. The outside wall was about seven miles in circuit, nearly the size of the wall of 
Athens. Five of the battlements of the different circles are said to have been brilliantly 
colored with different pigments, while one of the two last was coated with silver, and the 
other with gold. The first circle was white, the second black, the third scarlet, the 
fourth blue, and the fifth orange. The seventh corresponded with the palace, in which 
the entire woodwork was covered with plates. Old writers say the precious metals were 
very plentiful then in Media and Persia. When Darius retreated before Alexander, the 
seven thousand talents he carried away from Southern Ecbatana were equal to 
about eight and a half millions of dollars, and yet there was said to have been nearly 
five millions' worth of gold and silver left for Antiochus the Great when he took the 
wealthy city. 

On a height near by it is believed that an ancient Fire Temple stood, which was 
one of the most holy places in Persia. The temple was a square building of fifty- 
five feet, built of bricks laid in plaster. The outer wall must have been fifteen feet 
thick, and a high, narrow passage within this surrounded the central chamber, and com- 
municated with it by a broad arch upon each of the four faces. The inner chamber, 
where the sacred fire burned, was square, with massive walls fifteen feet thick, and 
roofed by a circular dome. The central chamber is quite well preserved and is black 
with the smoke of centuries. The sacred flame upon these fire-altars was never allowed 
to go out, except upon the death of a king, and then, probably, it was not entirely extin- 
guished. The greatest care was taken to preserve its purity; it was fed with wood 
stripped of its bark; no blast of air was suffered to touch it; it was never blown with 
bellows, and even the priests put cloths over their mouths before going to it. 

The Pyroithra, or fire-towers, the only Medo-Persian temples, are found along the 
mountain heights of Armenia and several other places. The temple near the capital is 
said by Eastern authors to have been founded by Cyrus, and in Greek history the 
stories of the strange events of the childhood of the great king, are laid in the ancient 



202 Cities of the Ancient World. 

city. Others tell us that he came here after his Lydian campaign, and deposited the 
captured spoils of Croesus in the seven-walled citadel. Herodotus says that the luxu- 
rious habits afterward practiced by the Persians were unknown in the time of Cyrus, 
and proves it by quoting the advice of a wise Lydian to his king, Croasus, when that 
monarch was planning his ill-fated expedition against Cyrus: "Thou art about, O 
King," said the Lydian, " to make war against men who wear leathern trousers, and 
have all their other garments of leather; who feed not upon what they like, but upon 
what they can get from a soil that is sterile and unkindly; who do not indulge in wine, 
but drink water; who possess no figs, nor anything else that is good to eat: If, then, 
thou conquerest them, what canst thou get from them, seeing that they have nothing at 
all ? " Herodotus declares that this was quite true, " for before the conquest of Lydia, 
the Persians possessed none of the luxuries or delights of life.' 

Next to the two Ecbatanas, the most important city of the Medo-Persian em- 
pire was Raga, or Rhages, near the eastern boundary of Media, near the cele- 
brated pass called the Caspian Gates. It was very early established, and for a 
long time was a very important place, being the largest city of Rhagiana, a strip 
of fertile territory between Mount Elburz and the Desert. It was guarded by mas- 
sive walls, and embellished with wonderful pieces of sculpture, that tell about 
some of the manners and customs of the people who lived here. On the side of one 
rock, a smooth surface had been made about sixteen feet in height and twelve in 
breadth, a colossal bas-relief stands out from a smooth surface about sixteen feet high 
and twelve broad. The picture represents a horseman, wearing the balloon-shaped head- 
dress always worn by the early sovereigns of this country, in full charge, couching his- 
spear. Long drapery flows behind him, and opposite him is the head of another horse, 
probably a charger, bearing some enemy of the royal hero. Other sculptures show the 
ancient styles of dress, armor, etc. Waving sash-like strips of cloth are found attached 
to different parts of the dress of the kings, who wear their beards usually long on the chin, 
and their hair in full and flowing curls. Sometimes the long beard is represented as. 
tied together at the point of the chin, and hanging down like a great tassel. The dia- 
dem is surrounded by fluted ornaments rising upward, while from the middle of the 
crown rises a balloon-like mass. The figure of a woman wearing a mural crown is seen 
on one of the sculptures. Her long hair falls in braids over her shoulders. Her dress 
is fitted so as to show the form of her person, and long tight sleeves not only cover the 
arms, but part of the hands too. This figure is said to represent the wife of one of the 
early kings, about whom there is a very romantic story which will show the style of bal- 
lads and narratives that the Persians most admire. The story is that the king was very 
fond of the chase, and so proud of his skill as an archer, that he wanted his wife to see 
some of his exploits. So she went to the hunt with him one day. Before long, the 
king saw an antelope lying asleep on the plain. He drew his bow, and just grazed the 



Bagistan. 203 

animal's ear. The antelope seemed to feel a fly was annoying him, and lifted his hind 
foot to the spot to strike it away. At this moment the king shot again, and made such 
true aim that the dart pierced and fastened it to the creature's horns. " Was not that a 
shot?" cried the exultant monarch. " O, practice makes perfect," coolly replied the 
lady. At this the king grew full of rage. He ordered a slave to carry the queen from 
his sight; take her to the mountains and there let her perish ! And the servant led 
her to the Median hills, but instead of seeking a bleak and lonely spot, he took her to a 
small village on the mountain side. Here, in deep disguise, she took lodgings in a 
tower. Her little chamber was reached by twenty steps, and the first thing she did was 
to procure a young calf, which she carried upstairs and down every day, for four years, 
her strength increasing with the size and strength of the animal. One evening when 
the king happened to be stopping at this village, he was amazed to see a young woman 
carrying a large cow up a flight of steps. He sent to inquire how such extraordinary 
strength had been gained, and received answer that the young woman would entrust her 
secret to no one but the king himself. He went at once to the tower and most court- 
eously spoke of the lady's marvelous strength. She bade him not to lavish praises 
upon her, " for," said she, " practice makes perfect," and lifting her veil, stood revealed 
before her royal husband. This was another amazement to the king; he had believed 
her to be dead, and long ago relented his harsh rashness. In a few days the inter- 
rupted journey was resumed, and the queen bore her husband company. But she 
returned many times to the little village, for a palace was built for her on the spot 
where the tower stood. From this time she shared in his glory as well as his pleasures, 
and her portrait was stamped with his on the coins of the empire. 

Strabo says that Rhages received its name from certain chasms made in the ground 
by earthquakes. It suffered much from war in ancient times, but was rebuilt again and 
again, and continued to be a place of much importance down to about 350 B.C., or the 
close of the Grecian dominion in Western Asia. It was so celebrated during the time 
of the Persian empire, that many writers gave it a very important place in their ro- 
mances, and described its people and scenes most fluently. It is frequently spoken of 
in the stories of Tobit and Judith in the Apocrypha. The great Median revolt that 
once shook the Empire had its final struggle, and when Darius fled from Ecbatana, he 
sent the ladies of his court and his heavy valuables to Rhages. 

Most of the other important Median cities lay in the western part of the country. 
First there was Bagistan, a city situated on the road between Southern Ecbatana and 
Babylon, a city situated on a hill, where there was a pillar and a statue of Semiramis. 
The famous Assyrian queen is said to have had a royal park or " paradise " on the ad- 
joining plain. The lovely fields and groves stretched for a long distance below the 
mountain, and were watered by an abundant spring; and the face of a precipice that abut- 
ted on the plain was smoothed, and then carved into a portrait of the wonderful queen. 



SYRIA. 

^I ^HE greatest city of ancient Syria was Damascus. For nearly three thousand 
years it has nourished, and although another bears the name, Damascus is the 
true " Eternal City" of the world. It is the most beautifully situated of any 
city in Syria, or perhaps in all Western Asia; it stands in a lovely plain a mile and a 
half from the base of Anti-Lebanon, and at a height of twenty-two hundred feet above 
the sea. The plain is about fifty miles in circumference, covered with rich vegetation 
and foliage; it is open to the desert of Arabia on the south and east, while on the other 
sides it is bounded by the mountains. The pale blue ridge on the right was known as 
" The Hills of Bashan," and the river below is Barada, the ancient Abana, which the 
Greeks called " The Golden Stream." It rises in Anti-Lebanon, flows eastward through 
the plain and the city, which it divides into two unequal parts. At different heights 
there are a number of dams built across the river, which turn a part of the waters into 
large canals. Some of these are tunneled through the rock along the sides of the ravine 
through which the mighty river flows; they branch out in many directions, carrying a 
generous supply of clear fresh water to the many fountains of Damascus, and on every 
side watering the plain, that is covered with rich groves and orchards of fig, walnut, 
pomegranate, citron, and apricot trees. Above all, the snowy peaks of Mount Hermon 
rose, then as now; and gleaming white under the brilliant Oriental sun lay the " oldest 
city in the world," surrounded by fair fields and magnificent mountains. Its oval 
circuit was surrounded by a stout tower-guarded wall, entered by several gates; the 
main quarters were on the south side of the river. Where the Eastern Gate now is, 
there used to be a fine Roman portal, with high, noble arches, and massive sides of 
masonry and stone. Outside of it there was an extensive tile and pottery factory, 
where finely glazed and richly colored tiles and vessels were made. These were so 
cleverly fashioned and so beautifully finished that they were celebrated far and wide. 
About eighty paces from the gate, the south-eastern angle of the wall was marked with 
a tower, with a fleur-de-lis and two lions sculptured in relief over the entrance doorway. 
The fortifications were a double wall at one time, with an arched gate on the western 
side, corresponding to that on the east. The greatest length of the city was from east 
to west, across which ran the famous "Street called Straight." It was a mile in length, 



Damascus. 



205 



broad and beautiful, divided by stately Corinthian columns into three noble avenues, 
and finished at each end with triple Roman gateways. The pavements were tesselated 
or laid in squares, like a checker-board. The ancient Damascenes excelled in this sort 
of work, as they did in many other mechanical arts. 

In many respects Damascus is the most remarkable city of the earth. It has out- 
lived generations of others, in an existence of four thousand years, during which it has 
formed an important part of the most powerful empires of the world. The monarchs of 
Nineveh, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome conquered it; but under every dynasty it 
prospered, and after all have fallen, it still lives. It is believed to have been founded 
by Uz, the great grandson of Noah; and this is probably how it happened: when Aram, 




HOUSES ON THE WALLS OF DAMASCUS. 

Uz's father, took possession of Northern Syria he looked about for a place to set 
his capital, and soon discovered that in all the land this was the most splendid site for 
a city, with its wide plain, luxuriant vegetation, and abundant waters. We do not know 
about Uz's plans in establishing Damascus, but it certainly was soon a flourishing city, 
and probably kept growing steadily for many years. Long after that time Abraham 
reigned there, and pilgrimages are now made to places near by that are associated with 
the great patriarch. In David's time — eight centuries later — it was the capital of a 



2o6 Cities of the Ancient World. 

powerful country, whose king ventured to make war on the victorious monarch of Israel. 
Besides its own territory round about the city, which included the eastern slopes of Anti- 
Lebanon, it had other extensive possessions and tributary kingdoms in Mesopotamia 
and the lands east of Syria. The people took a good share in the warlike enterprises 
of those times, bringing home plunder of goods and prisoners. The land around the 
Jordan, which was held by the Hebrews, was often invaded, and at one time Naaman, 
the commander of the Damascene armies, brought back with his prisoners of war a little 
Jewish maiden. Her bright looks and agreeable ways so pleased the great general that 
he resolved to give her to his wife for a hand-maiden. Now, Naaman was afflicted with 
the dreadful disease called leprosy, which was common in the East. It was not in so 
bad a form that he could not attend to his duties, but he was often in dreadful suffering 
as he went about the streets of Damascus, waited upon his king Benhadad, or led his 
armies into battle. Sometimes he was kept in the house by unusually severe attacks of 
pain, which no one could relieve; for leprosy was believed to be an incurable disease. It 
began in a mild way, but finally grew so bad that the sufferer would have to leave home, 
friends, and all well people, and join others with the same trouble, and as patiently as 
possible wait till death came. The little Jewish girl knew all this, and it touched her 
tender heart to see her master suffer; so she told him of a man named Elisha, who was 
a Hebrew prophet in her own land of Samaria, and was able to do miracles. Naaman 
told the king, and Benhadad gave his general permission to leave Damascus and his 
duties there to find cure, if he could. He even gave Naaman a letter to his old enemy 
Joram, King of Samaria, saying that he sent his valued soldier to him to be made well 
of leprosv. Then Naaman set out with a splendid train of chariots, horses, and camels 
laden with very rich gifts of silver, gold and stuffs, according to the Oriental custom of 
those days. This procession wound over the hills and crossed the plains and the river 
Jordan, till it finally reached Samaria. The king did not understand, and would have 
made a good deal of trouble if Elisha had not heard of it all, and sent for Naaman. 
Then the general and his retainers moved on, and before long filled the street before 
the prophet's house. The Scriptures tell the story, how that Naaman was told to dip 
himself seven times in the Jordan, and that after he had done this, he rose, clean and 
free from all signs of the disease. He was full of gratitude, and offered the prophet 
costly presents, which Elisha would not take. Then, it is said, the well man returned 
to Damascus with two mule-loads of earth with which he built an altar to the God of the 
Israelites, in whose name Elisha prophesied and wrought miracles. 

The Syrians did not worship the Jehovah of the Israelites, which is the same as the 
God of all Christian and Jewish worship in the world now; but a heathen deity, called 
Rimmon. A temple to him is believed to have stood where the Great Mosque of 
Damascus is now, and it was probably there that King Ahaz saw the beautiful altar, 
which he admired so much that he had a similar one made at Jerusalem. The cere- 




HEBREWS. MODE OF TRAVELING. 



Damascus. 



209 



monies of these heathen religions were very imposing, the king and his court attending 
the sacrifices in great pomp. After Naaman's return he probably kept up his usual 
duties, and walked with the king upon his arm at the head of a gorgeous procession that 
filled the temple, and taking part in the worship, or watched the priests performing their 
offices of worship and sacrifice; but to Naaman himself " there was no God in all the 
earth, save in the land of Israel." At about the close of Benhadad's reign, the first 
epoch in the history of Damascus closed. Some of the rulers in Assyria and Judah 
marched against it, laying the country waste and capturing the city. It had held a high 
position as capital of an independent dynasty for three hundred years. This now 
became a tributary kingdom; but Damascus still kept its importance down to the time 
of the conquests of Alexander the Great; 

it was singularly fortunate in escaping -^--^7" ,?fl35 S^fe 

the fate of destruction, which fell to 
almost all its sister cities. It was no 
longer capital after the division of the 
great conqueror's empire, but it still 
flourished as of old, and in about a 
thousand years it again rose to its old 
position as the Syrian metropolis. This 
was after the Romans gained sway in the 
East, less than half a century before the 
beginning of the Christian Era. For a 
few of the following years the Arabian 
named Aretas held the grand old city, 
and it was during his reign that the 
Christian religion began to be pro- 
claimed in the city and province of Damascus, and that the great apostle Paul went 
there to preach the Gospel of Christ. 

There are no full accounts of the appearance of the city in early times, and very 
little is known of its history. In the course of thousands of years it passed under the 
rule of Assyrians, Persians, Macedonians, and Romans; in later years it fell into the 
hands of the Saracens, from whom it was taken in 15 16 by the Turks; and they have 
held it ever since, with the exception of a few years when it belonged to the Pasha of 
Egypt; but during all the changes it has been prosperous and flourishing, as it is now.* 
It was one of the great commercial and manufacturing places in the ancient world. 
Caravans going to or coming from the East, especially Persia, made it an important 
station, and the merchants were among the most wealthy and enterprising of their time. 




BRIDGE OF JACOB S DAUGHTERS. 



\ 



See description of Damascus in " Great Cities of the Modern World." 



14 



210 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Some of the manufactures of the city have an everlasting reputation. Linen cloths of 
beautiful patterns and fine quality were woven with great skill, and became so celebrated 
that the goods were known far and wide as damask, and the same name is given to similar 
material now. But even more famous than this was the work of the goldsmiths, silver- 
smiths, and other metalists. They were marvelous workers in steel, and manufactured 
the finest sword-blades and daggers that have ever been known. The weapons are be- 
lieved to have been made of steel and iron, which were so welded together and tempered 
that they were very elastic, and at the same time rather hard, durable, and sharp; they 
were so flexible that the sword could be bent in any one's hands to form a hoop, with 
the point touching the hilt, without hurting the blade in the least. The surfaces were 
covered with beautiful designs, like a fine net- work of dark lines on a light ground, or 
light lines upon a dark ground; sometimes the steel-blue ground was inlaid with delicate 
patterns in gold. This ornamentation was done by careful work with acids, and in the 
genuine Damascus swords (some are so-called, but not real), the designs run through 
the entire blade, and are not worn off by friction or even grinding. The Crusaders spread 
the fame of the Damascene steel through Europe, and imitations of it have been made 
ever since. This is done by etching with acids, and produces landscapes, inscriptions, 
and ornaments commonly upon the blue ground of ordinary steel. Gold and silver 
ornaments of every description, armor, weapons, pipes, perfumes, etc., were among the 
manufactures of the early days of Damascus. 

The city of Samaria, where the prophet Elisha lived when Naaman went to be 
healed of leprosy, was the capital of the Kingdom of Israel. It stood in the center of 
a wide basin-shaped valley, encircled with high hills and almost on the edge of a great 
plain which borders upon the Mediterranean. If Naaman could have taken a direct 
route to it, he would have gone due south-east, and crossed the Sea of Galilee, when he 
had gone just about half way. Even this would have made a long journey, for Samaria 
was a great distance below Damascus, and far away beyond Jordan, toward the sea. It 
was beautifully situated on a hill which commanded a view of the surrounding country. 
It was probably from this fine position that the name of the city, which means " watch- 
mountain," came. Samaria was made the capital of Israel by King Omri, about 925 B.C., 
and for about two centuries it successfully resisted the storms and sieges of other kings 
of neighboring territories. Then it was overcome by the Assyrian monarch, who also 
took all the other cities of Israel, or Samaria, as the country round about was also 
called. With this conquest the people, or the " Ten Tribes of Israel," of which the 
Scriptures speak, were carried off. Their places were filled by colonies from Babylon, 
who were the people known in history as the Samaritans, with whom " the Jews had no 
dealings." 

The fair city had a checkered history. There was a deep hatred between the Israel- 
ites and the Assyrians, which sometimes grew very bitter, and again was partially healed 



Gaza. 



21 I 



over. When Alexander the Great took this — as he took all places in the East — he drove 
out the Assyrians and peopled Samaria with a colony from part of his Macedonian king- 
dom. Near the close of the second century B.C., it was captured by another general, 
and completely destroyed. Then it was soon rebuilt, and for fifty years was a home of 
the Jews, who were routed by Pompey, for the sake of the descendants of the Samaritans 
Alexander had made homeless. Augustus, when he became the emperor of Rome, gave 
the new city as a present to Herod, who called it Sebaste, and many vast improvements, 
so that it became quite famous for its splendor and importance. When the Mohamme- 
dans conquered Palestine, Samaritan prosperity perished, and there are scarcely any 
traces of the ancient capital in the little Arab village now occupying a small part of its 
site. 




ANCIENT AQUEDUCT. 



Another Syrian city, which seems to have been always undergoing wars and sieges, 
was Gaza. It stood about three miles from the sea, on the eastern edge of the desert 
between Palestine and Egypt. It was at first one of the strongholds of the Philistines, 
and in their time it was able to resist all enemies. These were a very ancient nation, who 
were so well known for their war-like nature that when Moses took the children of Israel 
out of Africa into Canaan, he preferred the long route described in the Scriptures to the 
shorter way through the land of the Philistines. They were able to cope with the 
Sidonians on one hand, and the Egyptians on the other; and for many centuries the 
conquerors of both East and West kept aloof from them. The Israelites were tributary 
to them, and groaned deeply under their oppression, as we read in the Scripture story of 



212 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Samson. They were cunning or crafty, too; for when they found the great Israelitish 
general's strength more than a match for them, they set to work to discover the secret 
of it from his wife, who had been a Philistine. She treacherously revealed that his 
strength seemed to come from his long thick hair, and not only did this but took some 
of them to him when he was asleep, and they cut off his locks. Then when he woke, 
they laid hands on him, put out his eyes, to be doubly sure, and took him down to Gaza. 
There he was imprisoned and, after a while, put to grinding at the mill. The women, 
the lowest slaves, and prisoners taken in war were set at this menial task. Upon a 
piece of sack-cloth spread on the ground before the door of the house, the " mill " was 
placed. The upper stone of the mill was turned round upon the " nether mill-stone," 
by means of a handle. Two women facing each other ground, somewhat after the 
fashion in which the cross-cut saw is worked, one throwing in grain as that in the mill 
was used. Morning and evening the hum of the hand-mill might have been heard, and 
sometimes far into the night. It was hard, tiresome work, and the fact that it was im- 
posed upon women, shows the little estimation in which they were held. This old-time 
custom still prevails, and in the streets of the modern town — known as Shuzzeh — the 
hum of the mill may be heard just as in the ancient days. The temple of Dagon, where 
the Philistines were assembled, and where they called Samson to perform some feats of 
strength for their amusement, probably stood on the hill-side, according to the Eastern 
custom; and the resentful giant knew that if the central columns were once loosened the 
whole building would pitch down the hill at once. He felt his strength returning to 
something like that of former times, when he had torn away the doors of the city gates, 
and carried them on his shoulders to the top of a hill that is before Hebron; and when 
his enemies called forth their prisoner to give them sport, he felt that a time for venge- 
ance had come. The temple must have been very large, for three thousand men and 
women were assembled upon the flat roof, and looked on while Samson amused his 
enemies. At last he begged to be led to a pillar that he might lean against it, and then 
he drew the two middle columns together, pulling down the vast temple, and perishing 
himself with three thousand of his enemies. 

In the last centuries before the Christian Era there were three cities on the north, 
the south, and the east of the Great Sea, that rivaled each other in splendor and culture. 
Of these Rome stood first, but it was not in any respect far ahead of the others — Alex- 
andria in Egypt, and Antioch, by the waters of Orontes, in Syria. This lay on the left 
bank of the river, twenty miles from the sea, in the midst of a long plain, so rich and 
fertile that it was like a cultivated garden hemmed in by mountain ranges. Upon the 
division of Alexander's empire, part of Syria fell to the share of Seleucus. He wished 
to extend his influence both east and west, so he resolved to have a capital in the 
northern part of Syria. After looking about for a favorable spot, he selected this site, 
and here founded " Antioch the beautiful," whose fame for splendor and wealth very 



Antioch. 



21 



soon entirely overshadowed the old capital. Part of the city stood upon an island, which 
is gone entirely now, and part of it was built on the plain, while the remainder stretched 
southward over the rugged rising ground toward Mount Casius. Its stately handsome 
quarters were threaded by the branches of a shining stream, whose banks were planted 
with brilliant fruit trees, and skirted on all sides by mountain slopes covered with vine- 
yards. It was one of sixteen cities founded by Prince Seleucus Nicator — one of the 




ANTIOCH. 



kings under the Emperor Alexander the Great — and named after his father, Antiochus; 
but it soon became more wealthy, more beautiful, and much more celebrated than all 
its namesakes. The story of its foundation is, that in May, B.C. 301, Seleucus made a 
sacrifice to the gods on the hill Silpius; afterward he repeated the ceremony, and while 
he was watching the auguries he saw an eagle carrying the flesh of the sacrifice to the 
foot of the hill Silpius. By this Seleucus understood that the gods pointed out to him 



214 Cities of the Ancient World. 

the site for a great city, which he began at once to build. He placed the citadel upon 
Mount Silpius, and built the city on the sloping ground that stretched between the hill 
and the river. It became the capital of Syria, and so many people flocked to it that 
before long the original town had to be enlarged. Then new quarters, each surrounded 
by a wall, were afterward added by other kings, so that Antioch became a tetrapolis, or 
city of four parts, which at the beginning of the Roman empire was as large as Paris 
is now. 

The quarter on the island was connected with the others by five bridges, and in 
about 150 B.C. the whole city was encircled by fortifications. It was necessary for this 
frontier capital to be very stout. The walls were also very skillfully built, and no point 
was unprotected, even the crossing of a wild ravine. The level of the adjoining parts 
was kept by the parapets on the top, while the solid blockade went down to the great 
depths beneath. The top of the wall seems to have been constructed in the form of a 
flight of steps. Large towers of defense rose seventy or eighty paces apart, and on the 
hills these were from seventy to eighty feet in height, those in the plain from twenty-five 
to thirty feet. There are said to have been three hundred and sixty towers. They 
were about thirty feet square, and projected on each side of the wall, which was about 
eight feet in width. Low doors opened from the towers upon the parapet, which made 
the entire fortification like a chain of castles with a means of passage extending all 
around the city. Where the wall crosses the Aleppo Road was the entrance called Paul's 
Gate, which still stands; but the most important portal of the ancient city was the 
*' iron gate." This was between steep hills, and was not only used for defensive 
purposes, but also contained a sluice by which the height of the water stored in the 
valley could be regulated. Not far from this gate was the rock-cavern, forming the 
ancient Church of St. John. The center of Antioch was laid out in a great public 
square, or covered colonnade, with four gates. From these stately streets lined with 
■columns led in four directions to the outskirts of the city. Everywhere stood fine build- 
ings; in all parts were streets and porticoes filled with such magnificent columns that 
they were called golden avenues. The principal street was about four miles long, 
crossing the city from east to west, with a broad road in the middle, and a narrower 
covered way or portico on each side, which were flanked by columns that stood in four 
parallel rows for the entire distance. From it others branched off, up to the higher 
parts of the city or down toward the river, and at every corner the porticoes of the main 
street were carried over to form an arch. A lofty monument with a statue of Apollo 
stood about midway along the avenue, where it was crossed at right angles by another, 
and a similar street that reached from the hill-side gardens on one side of the city to the 
Hympaeum on the other side, on the bank of the river. All the public buildings were 
magnificent. There were the palace, the Senate House, the temple of Jupiter, burnished 
with gold, the theater for plays, amphitheaters for gladiator shows, and a great number 



Antioch. 



215 



of public baths, all of which were almost, if not quite, as stately, gorgeous, and luxurious 
as those of Rome, after which they were copied. 

In the year 64 B.C., when Syria was reduced to a Roman province, Pompey gave to 
Antioch the power of self-government. New temples, theaters, baths, and aqueducts 
were then built, and more important than all, a basilica, or Court of Justice, which was 
called the Csesarium. In the suburbs of this brilliant city, which the ancients sometimes 
called the "Crown of the East," Seleucus founded the Grove of Daphne, which was 




SYRIAN SEAPORT. 



celebrated far and wide. It was intended both for worship and pleasure; it was fully 
ten miles in circumference, deeply bosomed in a thick grove of laurels and cypresses, 
and formed in the most sultry summers a cool shade through which the sun-heat never 
pierced. Many streams of purest water flowed from out the hills, which were crowned 
by temples, baths, and gymnasia. The Antiochians were a restless and pleasure-loving 
people. They were partly Greeks, and when the ancient rites of Greece were established, 



216 Cities of the Ancient World. 

the whole population easily took them up. A stadium was built, and when the Olympic 
games were celebrated the youths of the Syrian capital became athletes, throwing the 
■quoits, wrestling and racing, and exercising daily in the gymnasium. A magnificent 
temple to Apollo was built, embowered in a grove of laurels and cypresses. The sump- 
tuous sanctuary, enriched with gold and gems, and adorned by the most skillful of 
Grecian artists, was nearly filled by the colossal figure of the God of Light. The deity 
was represented as bending forward, apparently entreating the venerable mother to give to 
his embrace the beauteous but unwilling Daphne. Besides the temple of Apollo, Daphne 
contained temples to Diana, Venus, Isis, and other deities, all fitted up with great mag- 
nificence, as were also the baths, theaters, and other public buildings, where from time 
to time were held the revels of Daphne, which were not abolished until Christianity was 
established. It was at Antioch that the followers of Jesus were first called Christians, 
and there that Paul labored for some time, and then set out on his first missionary journey. 
It was also for many years the center and headquarters of missions to the heathen world. 
In the time of Chrysostom one-half of the two hundred thousand people dwelling here 
were Christians. 

After the founding of Constantinople Antioch was no longer chief city of the East, 
but it flourished with a new dignity as the seat of the Christian religion. Churches of a 
new and handsome architecture rose among the beautiful old public buildings, and even 
Constantine divided his attentions from his new capital to adorn the grand old city 
and strengthen its harbor, which was called Seleilceia. Among the population there were, 
especially in early times, a great many Jews; the people were rich, carrying on the chief 
trade of their vicinity, and attracting wealthy and cultivated people from all countries, 
but chiefly from Greece and Rome. Many men, distinguished for learning and their 
skill in art, lived here. But they were not a noble class of people altogether, being too 
fond of pleasures and luxuries, and not very pure-minded or refined. They were famous, 
above the folks of any other place, for biting and sarcastic wit, and for their ingenuity 
in making up nick-names; but this kind of smartness was just as dangerous then as it is 
now, and when the Antiochians " made fun " of the Persians, who invaded Syria under 
Chosroes in about 500 a.d., they did it to their own destruction, for the angered troops 
not only took the city but thoroughly demolished it. Justinian rebuilt it, but the place 
has had no real importance for ten or more centuries; it has always been subject to very 
severe earthquakes. 

Palmyra, the city of palms, the " Tadmor in the Wilderness" of Scripture, was 
one of the proudest and mightiest capitals of Western Asia. I t was founded by Solomon, 
and lay along the base of a white limestone ridge which runs from south-west to north- 
east, about midway between the Euphrates and Syria, at the end of his dominions. It 
stood in. a beautiful oasis in the midst of the great Syrian Desert, half-way between 
Damascus and Thapsacus, where his kingdom reached the Euphrates, and where there 



Palmyra. 2 l y 

was the great passage across the stream, afterward called the " fatal ford." This city 
linked his dominions with the great highways of commerce to the north and north-east 
and was at the same time a fine frontier station for the vast empire which he had over- 
come. But the history of Solomon's city of Tadmor is almost lost in that of Palmyra 
by which name it was called when in later times it was capital of the empire of Zenobia' 




THE GREAT COLONNADE, PALMYRA. 

The fertile oasis, well watered and abounding in tall graceful palm trees, was overlooked 
by barren and naked mountains on the west, and skirted by desert wastes of sand on 
the east and south; and in its midst rose the towered walls and handsome palaces of the 
city, a bulwark against the wandering Bedouin hordes, and a center of traffic between 
the East and West. It reached great importance finally, and became a most wealthy, 



218 Cities of the Ancient World. 

flourishing, and important city under the Roman Empire of Trajan. But the greatest 
glory of the city was about a century after that time, when Odenathus, a Syrian, founded 
an empire there. He was murdered before long, but his wife, Zenobia, became monarch, 
and so strengthened the power of the domain that it included both the countries of 
Syria and Mesopotamia. For a short time Palmyra carried on an immense trade with 
Asia and Europe, and there were few places in all the world more rich and important 
or more beautifully built up with marble halls and palaces and imposing edifices of 
many different kinds, the most celebrated of which was the Temple of the Sun. A 
square court, about seven hundred and fifty feet on each side, was surrounded by a 
wall seventy feet in height. Within, a double colonnade parallel to the walls, formed 
cloisters similar to those of Herod's restored Temple at Jerusalem. Near the center, 
enclosed by Corinthian columns sixty-four feet high, was the shrine, or Temple proper. 
These columns supported an unbroken entablature, richly ornamented with festoons of 
fruit and flowers, held up at intervals by winged figures. The Great Colonnade ran 
nearly across the city, in four rows of columns, each having on its inner side a bracket 
or a statue. Tnis colonnade contained above fifteen hundred columns, and ended in a 
magnificent triumphal arch, profusely decorated. 

There were a great many large and beautiful fountains, which kept the air of the 
desert cool and delightful throughout all the city. Among the most fantastic of these 
fountains was one in the court of a palace. It was in the form of an enormous elephant 
of stone, throwing from his uplifted trunk a shower of cold, clear water, which was 
sometimes exquisitely perfumed. Rocks, rudely piled together to resemble some natural 
cascade, received the falling showers, which were then conducted by underground 
channels to lower parts of the grounds. In apartments opening upon the court there 
were luxurious couches, where idle people of the house reclined within sound of the 
murmur of falling waters, fanned by slaves or waited upon with drinks cooled by snow 
brought from the mountains of India, and the rare and delicious confections which only 
the art of the East seems able to supply. 

Religious inscriptions show that the Palmyrenes worshiped a kind of Trinity. The 
first person they called Baal-Samim, "the god of the heavens; the second Malak-bal, 
who represented the sun; the third, Agli-bal, the moon. 

Zenobia's husband was a colleague, or a sort of partner, with Gallicnus in the Roman 
Empire; but when Aurelian became ruler, he marched against Zenobia with a large 
army, and after defeating her in several battles, besieged her in Palmyra. She tried to 
escape, but was captured and taken to Rome to grace the emperor's triumph. She was 
the most important sight in that great procession, not only because she was the queen 
of so celebrated a city and so great an empire, but also because she was very beautiful, 
and most gorgeously decked with splendid jewels. It is said that as she was led along 
the Via Flaminia she almost fainted from the weight of the gold chains upon her. 



Palmyra. 



219 



The people of Palmyra rebelled against the Roman garrison, after their queen was taken 
away, and to punish them Aurelian destroyed the city. It was rebuilt by Justinian, 
about three centuries after; but was pillaged by the Saracens, so that now there is 
only a small village amidst a field of ruins and tombs surrounded by sepulchres in the 




TEMPLE AT BAAEBEC. 

mountain-sides, to mark its site. But these are among the most important monuments 
of ancient Syria; some are plain, and others very elaborate, many were built in the 
form of towers and filled with the bodies of the dead, and treasures of ornaments and 
statuettes. In one of them there were two statues, one of which was life size, with 
flowing robes and close jackets plaited and laced over the chest. One of these towers 



220 Cities of the Ancient World. 

is over thirty feet square at the base, and twenty-five feet square above the basement. 
It is one hundred and eleven feet in height, and comprises six stories, reached by stone 
stairs. Underground is an immense vault, filled with bones of wild animals and men 
and fragments of mummy linen. Running down the center of the building, opposite 
the entrance, is a long hall with a beautiful paneled stone ceiling. On either side of the 
hall are four recesses, about the length and breadth of a large coffin. Shelves were 
placed in these recesses, leaving room for dead bodies to be run in between them. The 
upper stories were like the first, except that they were not so highly ornamented and 
contained more recesses in the sides, some of them as many as eight. In this one tower 
were places for as many as four hundred and eighty bodies. In some of the tombs the 
recesses contain busts in relief, each having a short Palmyrene inscription, telling the 
name and parentage of the person whose portrait is given. It seems to have been the 
custom to embalm the body, place it in one of the loculi, or panels in the recess, and 
seal up the opening. 

The ancient and mysterious city of Baal bee lay at the northern end of a low range 
of bleak hills about one mile from the base of Anti-Lebanon, and about forty miles 
north-west of Damascus. It was irregular in form, and surrounded by walls two miles 
in circumference, and skirted by a well-watered and delightful plain. It was once a 
most magnificent city, full of palaces, fountains, and beautiful monuments. Toward 
the building of these all Syria gave wealth and labor, for it was the chief seat of the 
deity Baal, the great sun-god of many ancient nations. He represented to the people 
of Western Asia about the same idea of the sun being lord or master of the universe, as 
the Bel or Belus of Assyria, Moloch of the Phoenicians, and the supreme deities of many 
other countries. The name of Baalbec meant the city of Baal, or the Sun, and so when the 
Greeks came into possession of it, after the conquests of Alexander, it was called 
Heliopolis, which had the same meaning in the Greek language. 

The oldest records of this city are upon coins that were made in the days of the 
Roman power in the East. Neither the Bible nor any other of the very early histories 
speak of this city, and yet it certainly existed in those times, as miles of magnificent 
ruins now show. Being a religious capital, the chief buildings were probably temples, 
and most of the people were priests of Baal. But there were palaces and dwellings for 
all classes of devotees, who must have gone in great numbers, with much pomp and 
magnificence, to worship and make the great and costly sacrifices which they believed 
the god demanded. There were three chief temples, known as the Great Temple, the 
Temple of the Sun, and the Circular Temple. The Great Temple consists of a peristyle, 
courts, and portico, standing on an artificial platform. This was nearly thirty feet in 
height, and had long vaults underneath. The Great Court through which it was ap- 
proached measured four hundred feet one way and four hundred and fifty the other, 
making a vast enclosure that was wonderfully rich in decorations, with chambers, 



Baa I bee. 



221 



recesses, columns and friezes. The interior of each recess was ornamented with shell- 
topped niches, and over the recesses beautiful garlands of fruit and flowers were sculp- 
tured. At the western end of the court, on a still higher platform reached by a flight 
of steps, stood the Great Temple, with its stately Corinthian columns and wonderful 
sculptures and statuary. Egg and dice ornaments fill the deep mouldings, and lovely 
garlands hung below the roof. The effect is wonderfully rich and beautiful, from the 
profusion of sculpture and fret-work. The colossal walls on the north and west sides 
of the platform which supports the Great 
Temple are perhaps the greatest won- 
ders of Baalbec. In this wall are three 
enormous stones, that you may have 
heard of, for they are very famous be- 
cause they are so large — one being over 
sixty feet long, thirteen feet high, and 
of about the same thickness — and be- 
cause they are twenty feet above the 
ground. This shows that there must 
have been some marvelous lifting power 
in those days. From these stones the 
Great Temple was long called "the 
Three-stoned." 

The Temple of the Sun is the most 
perfect and most imposing monument 
of ancient art in Syria. It stands on a 
platform somewhat lower than that of 
the Great Temple. It is larger than 
the Parthenon. The style is Corinthian, 
and the character of the decorations 
show that it was built about the same 
time as the Great Temple. Elaborate 

and delicate sculptures, representing fruit, flowers, vine-leaves, little figures with bunches 
of grapes in their hands, and cupids wound about with acanthus leaves, decorate the 
interior of this wonderfully beautiful house, in which the Syrians placed their shrines, 
their treasures, and statues dedicated to all the gods of the city. It is said that the 
Great Temple contained a golden statue of Jupiter, which was carried in procession 
through the streets of the city on festival days. The Circular Temple was smaller, and 
stood alone about two hundred yards to the south-east of the others. It was not as 
grand and pretentious as the first two, but was small, complete, and beautiful, according 
to the custom of temples dedicated to the worship of Venus, for whom it was probably 




FALLEN PILLAR. 



222 Cities of the Ancient World. 

built by the Greeks. Beneath the temples there are underground corridors, where 
Roman soldiers once sought refuge from the fierce heat of a Syrian sun. The numbers 
of the legions or companies are still seen on the walls. On a hill-side in this ancient 
city there used to stand a tall Doric column, probably surmounted by a statue, over a 
burial-cave. Several sarcophagi were found in the cave, and on the lid of one there 
were some sculptures. On the hill-side above this column, and near it, are many rock- 
tombs. 

At the quarry, a short distance from the city, there lies a stone, seventy-one feet in 
length by fourteen in depth, and thirteen in width, weighing probably fifteen hundred 
tons, which is more than six times the weight of Cleopatra's Needle. It has lain here 
for hundreds of years, already shaped for some building, but never used. 

On the route between Syria and Eastern Asia, mid-way between Antioch and Hierap- 
olis on the Euphrates, lies Aleppo, which was known in ancient times as Be roe a. This 
name was probably given to it by Seleucus Micator, who founded Antioch, and it was 
kept until the time of the Saracens. It stood on a little stream called Nalv-el-Haleb. 
Tradition says that the patriarch Abraham, after milking his cows used to distribute the 
milk to the poor people, who gathered at the foot of the. hill, and when he was ready 
cried out, " Haleb, Haleb," — "he has milked." The Arabs say that Abraham, when 
on his way to Canaan, spent some time on the castle hill, and a stone trough is shown 
into which it is said his cattle used to be milked. The city, part of which is still stand- 
ing, was built upon several small hills and intervening valleys, and surrounded by a 
towered-wall. The situation is a strange one, on the borders of a desert, seventy miles 
from the sea, in the midst of an unfruitful country. " Castle Hill " rises in the middle 
of the town; it was surrounded by a massive wall, and a moat that was crossed by a 
bridge of seven arches. Double gates were set for the defense of the bridge, and the 
steep ascent leading to the top of the hill was dotted with houses for the garrison and 
bazaars or shops. Under the hill there was a subterranean chamber, with a roof 
upborne by four columns built into the wall's. At one of the gates near the hill, there 
is a stone bearing part of an ancient inscription. When the modern Aleppines pass it 
they rub their fingers over the letters and then kiss them. There is a tradition that 
Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, lies buried where the Great Mosque is. The 
population of ancient Aleppo was probably about a hundred and fifty thousand, in its 
most prosperous days; it is now a little less than half that number. But the city is even 
yet one of the handsomest and finest in the country. It is an important center for the 
inland trade of Asia, its citizens are celebrated in all parts of the East for their 
elegant manners. 

Jerusalem, called by the Arabs El-Kuds ("The. Holy"), has stood for at least 
thirty centuries on the summit of a mountain ridge extending in length from the plain 
of Esdraelon to the desert of Beersheba, and in breadth from the plains of Sharon and 



Jerusalem. 



22 



Philistia to the valley of the Jordan. Bleak limestone crowns lie along the summit of 
this ridge, separated by ravines. In the midst of these rather desolate environs, two 
valleys open, one is the valley of Kidron, the other the valley of Hinnom. The ancient 
city stood on the ridge between them, which is itself divided into two parts by the 
Tyroposan, or cheese-makers' valley. The one on the west, considerably the larger and 
loftier, is the Zion of Scripture, while that on the east is Moriah. Still loftier crowns 




BETHLEHEM FROM THE SHEPHERDS FIELDS. 



rise all around the site, with openings here and there through which are glimpses of the 
distant country. The ancient city, called the " City of David," also by Josephus, " the 
Upper City," was built on Zion, and, surrounded by walls as well as by deep valleys, 
it occupied a position of great security. Moriah, the " sacred hill," was then connected 
by a bridge over the Tyropcean with Mount Zion; on the northern brow of which, on a 
crest of rock thirty cubits high, there rose three great towers — Hippicus, Phasaelus, and 



224 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Mariamme. At a little distance was a place for games, called the Xystus, which the 
royal palace overlooked, and which was also connected with the great towers, while both 
Xystus and palace were connected by a bridge with the Temple. 

The most ancient name of Jerusalem was Salem, the Foundation, or the Vision of 
Peace. Afterward it was called Jebus, because it belonged to the Jebusites, and the 
present name is thought to be the two names combined. The city consisted of four 
parts, built on four hills, Zion, Akra, Moriah, and Bezetha. Zion, upon which stood 
the " Upper City," was the first spot in Jerusalem occupied by buildings. An ancient 
citadel stood here; it was also the burial-place of David and fourteen kings who ruled 
after him. Akra is called the " Lower City," to distinguish it from Zion, " the Upper 
City," and this lay opposite to Mount Moriah, from which it was separated by a broad 
valley. That was the hill upon which Abraham built the altar to sacrifice his son Isaac, 
we are told by Josephus and many other old historians; it was also the site of the 
Temple. Bezetha, or New City, is a broad irregular ridge with steep sides. The cir- 
cumference of the ancient city was about four miles and a half, and the regular popula- 
tion was nearly seventy thousand; but during the yearly feasts there were multitudes 
thronging every part of the city, and encamping on the surrounding heights. Josephus 
says that at one time during the feast of the Passover, there were in and around Jerusa- 
lem two million, seven hundred thousand people. The fame of the city first rose in the 
time of David; for about seven years after the valiant young shepherd became king of 
Israel he resolved to remove the capital from the far away Hebron toward the center of 
the country. His choice fell upon Jerusalem, which was a fair and likely place for 
the seat of the great Hebrew empire. It was held by the nation of the Jebusites, but 
in those days, if a king wanted a place, he made war on those who possessed it, and 
took it if he could. So David attacked Jerusalem, and gained the lower city at once; 
but the fortress of the Jebusites was the citadel. They felt so sure that this could not 
be taken, that they are said to have manned the battlements with lame and blind men. 
This was an insult, which David felt bitterly. " That man," he cried, "who first scales 
the rocky side of yonder fortress, and kills a Jebusite, shall be chief captain of the host 
of Israel ! " Many warriors rushed forward, but Joab distanced them all, and gained 
the prize. The others pressed after him, and so the citadel of Zion fell into the hands 
of the Great King, and Jerusalem became the capital of Israel in 1048 B.C. Great 
works were begun here, then, in laying out the city in fortifications and buildings. For 
thirty-three years the celebrated king ruled in this lofty city, and kept continually at 
work to carry out the two great tasks of his life, which were to establish the worship of 
Jehovah in the stronghold of Israel, and to extend the domains of that kingdom from 
the Red Sea to the Euphrates. 

He was a mighty conqueror, and compelled one tribe after another to yield to his 
armies, and he also spread great prosperity in Judah and the new kingdom of Israel, by 



Jerusalem. 



22 



encouraging navigation and trade, by carefully arranging the form of government, and by 
founding a higher and a lower court of justice. David is well known as the author of 
the Psalms, which are beautiful Oriental poems. They are all religious verses, and show 
every shade of spiritual feeling, from faith and joy in God's goodness to overwhelming 
sorrow for the writer's own sin. David was born in the little village of Bethlehem, and 
belonged to the same family into later generations of which Christ came, about ten centu- 
ries later. The village is still in existence, about five miles south of Jerusalem, in the 







MOUNTAINS OF MOAB, OPPOSITE THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH, ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF 

THE DEAD SEA. 



midst of a country of great interest to all who are familiar with the Bible. Away to the 
east are the plains of Jordan, with the mountains of Moab beyond the Dead Sea, and 
on all sides are mountains, plains, and valleys, where the people of God passed the early 
centuries of their eventful and often troublous existence. Zion was chosen for the site 
of the Tabernacle, or tent-temple, and to that hill the Ark of the Covenant was taken 
from Gibeah. This was the citadel of Kirjath-jearim, or " city of forests," 0:1 the road 

15 



226 Cities of the Ancient World. 

between Jerusalem and the city of Lydda, nearer the Mediterranean coast. Many of 
the psalms of David were made in reference to the removal of the ark and to its being 
safely established in the city. The king's palace of cedar-wood was upon Zion's Hill, 
and opposite, upon Moriah, he began to build the great temple, which was finished by 
his son Solomon. This was the most important, the most splendid, and the most famous 
building in the great city. The plans and nearly all the preparations for the materials 
were made by David; he had secured aid from many sources, especially from Hiram, 
King of Tyre, who willingly gave great assistance to his old friend's son Solomon, when 
he began to carry out his father's design in the great work. All the arrangements were 
so complete that no sound of axe or hammer was heard about the temple during the 
whole seven years of its building, 

" Like some tall palm, the noiseless fabric grew." 

The general plan of this most celebrated sanctuary was after the Tabernacle, but in 
all points twice the size. Outer walls formed a vast square of about six hundred feet, 
in the center of which was the comparatively small structure of the temple, gleaming 
with a profusion of gold ornamentation. It was of oblong shape, and had three parts; 
a deep porch extending across the front, and supported by two great brass pillars, called 
Jachin and Boaz, adorned with lily-work and pomegranates. This led to the Holy 
Place, or outer hall, which was about twice as large as the Porch. Here there was the 
Altar of Incense, m?de of cedar overlaid with gold, and beside it were seven golden 
candle-sticks, and ten golden tables of shew-bread, and a great number of golden vessels 
used in the religious services. In the center of the place there was a square hall, con- 
taining the sacred Ark, and called the Holy of Holies. The walls and curtains shut it 
off from the view of any persons in the Holy Place. The whole interior of the temple 
was lined with wood-work richly carved and overlaid with gold. We are told that the 
dedication of this great sanctuary was the grandest ceremony that ever took place among 
the Israelitish people. The time chosen was the Feast of Tabernacles, the most'joyous 
festival of the Jews. After the labors of the field, and the gathering in of the vintage, 
the people went to Jerusalem from all parts of the wide territories of Solomon. The 
king himself, as a priest, was in his linen ephod, the royal robes being laid aside; and a 
full body of the holy men brought the ark in a grand procession from the tabernacle 
on Zion to the rest prepared for it beneath the spreading wings of two cherubim in the 
Holy of Holies. No alterations were made in the ark; this was the same as it had 
always been, and contained only the two tables of the law which Moses had placed in it 
at Sinai. When it was set down the chorus of the Levites, with all instruments of music, 
and clad in white linen robes, burst forth in praise of Jehovah: " For He is good; for 
His mercy endureth forever." Prayers and burnt-offerings of thousands of oxen and 
sheep were made, and the psalms of David were sung to an accompaniment of many 



Jerusalem. 



227 



instruments of music. A great feast was held that lasted for two weeks — seven days 
for the regular Feast of the Tabernacles, and seven for the dedication of the temple. 
Then Solomon dismissed the multitudes, and they returned to their homes "glad and 
merry in heart for all the goodness that Jehovah had showed unto David, and to Solomon, 
and to Israel, His people." 

This temple stood for four hundred and 
twenty-three years, when it was destroyed 
by Nebuchadnezzar; but after the conquest 
of Persia Cyrus ordered that it be rebuilt, 
and the fifty-four hundred vessels which 
Nebuchadnezzar had taken away be restored. 
The Second Temple, begun B.C. 534, was 
dedicated ninteen years later. It was situated 
on a rocky hill of Moriah, which was sur- 
rounded from the base with a triple wall, and 
had a noble colonnade crowning the embank- 
ment on one side. The sustaining walls of 
the outer courts were built up from a depth 
of about five hundred feet. The colon- 
nades, double throughout, were supported by 
pillars about forty feet high, each a single 
stone of pure white marble. The ceilings 
were of paneled cedar, and the open court 
was covered with pavement laid in squares. 
Between the outer and inner courts rose a 
stone balustrade, five feet high, of exquisite 
workmanship. Within the balustrade was 
an ascent by fourteen steps to a terrace en- 
circling the wall of the inner court, and from 
this terrace, five steps more led to the 

• „ . , ■ ■ , j , ,, THE MOAB1TE STONE. 

inner court, which was surrounded by a wall 

over sixty feet high on the outside, but only about forty inside. Within this inner 
court was the most sacred enclosure, containing the Temple itself, which none but the 
priests might enter. To this enclosure there was an ascent from the inner court of 
twelve steps. This Temple proper was rebuilt by Herod, who also erected some mag- 
nificent cloisters encircling the outer court. In the southern side of the outer court 
were double gates, and on its western side were four gates, one of which connected the 
Temple with the royal palace. There was no gate on the east or north side. It is said 
that Herod enlarged the area of the temple to twice its former extent. 




228 Cities of the Ancient World. 

The cloisters of the Temple were very remarkable." Along the southern side of the 
outer court ran the cloister of Herod — the Stoa Basilica, or Public Porch. This con- 
sisted of four rows of Corinthian columns, forming nave and aisles. The aisles were 
thirty feet wide and fifty feet high. The nave was forty-five feet wide, and one hundred 
feet high. The columns were single shafts of white marble, and the roofs of cedar-wood 
were exquisitely carved. The nave was exactly opposite the bridge leading from Zion 
to the Temple, and corresponded to it in breadth. 

Solomon's Porch, where Jesus used to walk, ran along the eastern side of the Temple 
court. This porch, or stoa, was a double range of cloisters between three rows of 
columns. It was of great height, and occupied a commanding position on the eastern 
brow of Mount Moriah. There were also cloisters on the two remaining sides. The 
general plan of this noble and striking Temple resembled that of the Temple of the 
Sun at Palmyra, with cloisters somewhat like those at Baalbec. The sumptuous palace of 
King Solomon, beautifully planned and richly decorated, stood near the Temple. The 
greatest power as well as the greatest splendor of Jerusalem was reached during the 
reign of this monarch. His palace, which was not finished until four years after the 
completion of the temple, was by far the most magnificent residence that had ever been 
raised. It was built after the style of the Assyrian palaces, but with much more 
splendor. It was built in the Acra, looking toward the south side of the temple, and 
for.it the rarest of all materials and most skillful of workmen in the East, were brought 
together. The principal building situated within the palace was, as in all Eastern 
palaces, the great hall of state and audience, called The House of the Forest of Leba- 
non, probably from the rows of pillars supporting it. These were made out of the famous 
cedars of the distant mountains, which, far to the north of the Holy City, separated Syria 
from the narrow strip of Phoenician country along the Mediterranean shore. There 
was a long hall joined to the House of the Forest of Lebanon by a cedar porch, called 
the Tower of David. Outside of this there were hung a thousand golden shields, and 
within sat the king in all his imperial splendor. Opposite, there was another large 
column-supported hall called the Porch of Judgment. A great square altar stood in 
the center of the vast court, which was enclosed on all the other sides by the household 
apartments of the king, adjoining the spacious halls. Across one end was the Palace of 
Pharaoh's Daughter, and opposite that, beyond the altar of the Great Court, there was 
a stately and beautiful Porch of Pillars, where the ordinary business of the palace was 
transacted, where the king received all usual visitors. Behind this were most of the 
private apartments of the palace, surrounding three open courts. In the center of the 
left-hand portion lay the Inner Court, adorned with gardens and fountains, and sur- 
rounded by cloisters for shade; corresponding to that on the right division, there were 
two smaller courts for the attendants and guards and the women of his household, whose 
apartments were grouped in suites around these paved and handsomely adorned open- 



Jerusalem. 



229 



ings. Solomon built an inclined road in an underground passage, leading from his 
palace up to the platform of the temple. About the whole of the first half of his reign 
was occupied in these and other works toward establishing the religion of Jehovah and 
his own royal state in Jerusalem. The entire empire was in a state of peace; and year 




ONE OF THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. 



by year the king developed the resources of the country and pushed its commerce in 
every way possible to add to the treasure already gathered by his father. He was by 
far the greatest man of his time, not only in imperial power and wealth, but also in 
wisdom and learning. His judgment was so true, and his knowledge of right and wrong 
so clear that greater praise of judgment can scarcely be given than to say a person is as 



230 Cities of the Ancient World. 

wise as Solomon. He was also the most learned man, and the most talented poet of 
his time. His works on science have been lost; but the Canticles, or Song of Songs, 
the Ecclesiastes and Proverbs in the Bible are believed to have been his; and there is 
scarcely anything finer or more beautiful in all the ancient Oriental writings. Beside 
the descriptions of him in the Bible, there are many Eastern legends, which relate glow- 
ing stories of him. These spell his name Suleiman, and describe him as the lord and 
master of everything under the sun, the most wealthy of all created men, whose wisdom 
and power were as limitless as his riches. But his wonderful genius, his wisdom, power 
and wealth were shamefully over-shadowed in the latter part of his life by his own 
neglect of the wisdom he taught others. He now did the opposite of what had seemed 
right and good to him before; he became a selfish, arrogant tyrant, which turned the 
feelings of his people from love and trust into hatred and discontent. Upon his death 
a revolt broke out among the conquered kingdoms, which caused the downfall of the 
Jewish nation forever. 

The mountain summits, the hill-slopes, and the fair peaceful valleys about the Holy 
City are studded with tombs; the remains of Solomon, David, and other kings were 
laid near the spot on which they lived. There, too, the prophets were buried. Their 
tombs are reached through a long gallery leading downward to a circular chamber, about 
twenty-four feet in diameter and ten feet high. This may also be entered by a hole in 
the roof. From it run three high and narrow galleries, two of which are parallel, with 
long cross galleries, where there are the tombs of Zacharias, Absalom, St. James, Jehos- 
haphat, and many kings and great men who walked the streets and mingled with the 
multitudes of the celebrated ancient city 

The beauty and magnificence of Solomon's court were never again equaled in Jerusa- 
lem after the king of Babylon — Nebuchadnezzar — "burned it with fire." From that 
time it saw many changes. One conqueror took it from another, pillaging or rebuilding. 
The Eastern monarchs wrested it from each other; the Romans captured it; and in 66 
a.d., when the Jews revolted against the foreign conquerors, Titus obtained it again for 
Rome; but he did so by one of the most terrible sieges known in history. Hundreds 
of thousands of Jews are said to have perished, many killing themselves, when all hope 
was lost, by throwing themselves from the walls, or into the flames of the burning city. 
The beautiful Temple was destroyed, and all the houses and walls were thrown down. 
Under the emperor Hadrian it was rebuilt and named ^Elia, after his family name ^Elias. 
But the religious emperor Constantine gave it the old name again, and the Holy City 
became a great place for Christian pilgrims to visit It is now sacred to the people of 
the Mohammedan religion also, and there are hundreds of men and women of both faiths 
who go to it every year. But they do not see any of the old-time grandeur, for modern 
Jerusalem is a city of narrow, crooked, dirty streets, with the ruins of centuries scattered 



Joppa. 



231 



among its Jewish and Mohammedan buildings. The population is less than twenty-five 
thousand, or about one-fourth that of Albany, New York. 

The port of Jerusalem in the time of David was Joppa, which stood on the Mediter- 
ranean coast, about thirty miles north-west of the Holy City. It was also called Yafa 
or Jaffa, which means Beauty, and was probably given on account of the lovely picture 
made by the city and its surroundings of hills and sea. It stood on a low rounded hill, 
between the Mediterranean and the plain of Sharon. Luxuriant orchards of orange, 
lemon, date, and fig-trees stretched away on the land side like a " sea of green adjoining 
that of blue. Pliny says it existed before the flood, and Strabo describes it as the place 
where Andromeda, the Ethiopian princess, was exposed to the sea-monster because her 
mother said she was more beautiful than the Nereids, or nymphs of the sea. In Pliny's 




Solomon's pools, outside southern wall of Jerusalem. 

days chains were shown in the rocks to which she was said to have been bound until 
Perseus killed the monster and rescued her. Josephus says that the city was founded 
by the Phoenicians, and in the Bible it is first mentioned in the distribution of the land 
by Joshua as marking the border of the tribe of Dan. To this port was carried the 
timber from Lebanon, used in the building of both the first and second Temple. From 
this port Jonah set sail for Tarshish, when he was fleeing from Jhe presence of the 
Lord. Pottery was manufactured here, and the potter and his wheel, with his heap of 
prepared clay and jar of water by his side, may be seen now as he was in the ancient 
Bible days. The potter, taking a lump of clay in his hand, placed it on top of the 



232 Cities of the Ancient World. 

revolving wheel and smoothed it into a cone something like the upper end of an old- 
fashioned sugar-loaf. Then, thrusting his thumb into its top, he opened a hole down the 
center, which constantly enlarged as he pressed upon it, giving it any shape he pleased. 
Now and then the growing jar, from some defect perhaps, or because the potter has 
taken too little clay, is suddenly crushed into a shapeless mass, and the work is begun 
anew. These vessels were extremely delicate, and were broken frequently by merely 
putting them upon the floor. 

It was to Joppa that St. Peter came when he raised Tabitha from the dead, and there 
also he saw the vision which gave him a much better and broader idea of the aim of 
Christianity than he ever understood or thought of before. Scarcely any town has met 
with such disasters as Joppa, but it is of late years rising in prosperity, and the present 
population is about fifteen thousand. 

One of the most faithful and generous friends of David and Solomon, and of the 
Hebrew monarchy, was the Phoenician king Hiram. His court was at the city of Tyre, 
a long way north of Jerusalem, where the Eastern Mediterranean washed the shore of 
the land of Phoenicia. This was a part of what is now Syria, that lay along the coast 
north of Palestine. The name was given by the Greeks, and meant either a palm 
country or a red country. Tyre was the chief city of this country; it was powerful as 
early as 1200 b.c. During Solomon's reign, two hundred years later, it had the largest 
commerce of any place on the Mediterranean, and also held the port of Elath on the 
Red Sea, from which its ships sailed into the Indian Ocean. Tyre was a double city. 
One part, called Palsetyrus — Old Tyre — or sometimes continental Tyre, lay on the main- 
land. On two rocky islands in front of this lay the sea-port, probably connected with 
it by a mighty causeway in the sea. A great wall, built of massive blocks of stone, 
kept out the sea, and formed wharves for the loading and unloading of a great number 
of vessels from nearly every port that was known. The island portion was almost en- 
tirely occupied by such buildings as store-houses, manufactories, and arsenals; these 
were fine and substantial, being well built for their use; but on the mainland the quarters 
were celebrated far and wide for their handsome appearance. Numerous castles, towers, 
palaces, and temples flanked the sea-wall or covered the rising ground beyond. In the 
courts of the houses, the streets, and public squares there were beautiful gardens and 
fountains. Some of those old fountains and their reservoirs are now among the most 
remarkable works in Syria. They stand about a quarter of a mile from the shore, and 
are called the fountains of Rasel-Ain. There are four standing close to one another, 
fed by water gushing up from the bottom of artificial cisterns. They used all to be 
connected with the. great canal, which carried the water to the public places of the city 
and into the paved courts of the beautiful dwellings of the famous merchant princes. 
The commerce of ancient Tyre was carried on both by caravans and by ships on the 
sea, from Abyssinia and Arabia on the south, from Armenia and Georgia on the north, 



Tyre. 



233 



from India and the utmost islands of Greece, trade flowed constantly into this " Tyrus 
of perfect beauty." The fair city was " made glorious in the midst of the sea," and the 
richest products of every known country came to her ports. This rich trade was described 
by the prophet Ezekiel in quaint Oriental language: 

Thou art situate at the entry of the sea, a merchant of the people for many isles. Thy borders are in 
the midst of seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. They have made all thy ship-boards of fir 
trees of Senir ; they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee; of oaks have they made 
thine oars; thy benches of ivory. Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt thou spreadest forth to be 
thy sail; blue and purple, that which covers thee. 




THE VALLEY OF SHECHEM, ONE OF THE CITIES OF REFUGE AND THE FIRST CAPITAL OF 

THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. 

Riches, fairs, merchandise, mariners, and men of war — all that was desirable from 
all the cities and countries of the world — are described by the prophet as having found 
their way to the city. The manufacturers and artisans were among the most skillful in 
the world. Hiram sent many of them to work upon the temple and palace at Jerusalem, 
and their celebrity spread to all countries. They had particular skill in making dyes. The 
rich crimson of the " Tyrian purple," was so beautiful that it was called the royal color, and 
worn by kings. It was admired in the distant west as well as the east, for Homer sung of 

"Belts, 
That rich with Tyrian dye, refulgent glowed." 

It was obtained from a kind of shell-fish known as the Mure.x y which is still found all 



234 Cities of the Ancient World. 

along this coast. Tyre was as important in ancient history as in commerce. It was a fair 
and beautiful possession, which nearly all the old conquerors wished to make their own. 
In about 720 B.C., Sargon, King of Assyria, spent five years in besieging it, and finally 
had to give up; and almost two centuries afterward Nebuchadnezzar met with only half 
success after a siege of thirteen years; and it was not until more than two centuries after 
that it yielded to the powerful Alexander, after a determined attack that lasted seven 
months, in about the year 332 B.C. She had troubles of her own many times, and suffered 
losses, especially when Dido and her colony suddenly departed with a new fleet, weighted 
down with men and treasure; but Alexander was the first foreigner to entirely wrest the 
city out of the hands of the Phoenicians. The great trade, part of which had been 
gradually drawn away by Carthage, was now almost entirely absorbed by the new port 
of Alexandria, and the harbors and roadsteads of the " mistress of the seas" were no 
longer the wonder of the world. 

After awhile it was restored and rebuilt in Roman times, and it once more became a 
great seat of trade; for the Phoenicians were the kind of people whose energy can never 
be put down. Some people think that Tyre was built by a colony from Sidon, which 
was also Phoenician, and a sister-city situated about twenty miles north of Tyre, on the 
shores of the blue Mediterranean, near the modern town known as Sarda, " sitting in 
the sea." It was one of the first cities in the world, and is believed to have been built 
by Zidon, the oldest son of Canaan. Joshua called the city " Sidon the Great," and 
Homer celebrates the wealth and skill and prosperity of the Zidonians. The walls of 
ancient Sidon embraced a large area; her commodious double harbors were crowded with 
ships from every coast, and long lines of caravans brought to her doors the luxuries and 
treasures of every eastern land. Secure in her strength, she " dwelt careless, after t.;e 
manner of the Zidonians," and none dared to molest her. It was built with stout walls, 
towers, palaces, and temples on a rising mound, with the sea on the north and west, and 
a river bed forming a natural moat on the south, while on the east it was protected by 
high hills. In the time of Sidon's greatest prosperity — nearly three thousand years ago 
— it was the leading city of Phoenicia; it was also the oldest city of that nation, and was 
looked upon as the headquarters of the entire country, being familiarly called the 
" Metropolis," or the " Great City." The name of Sidonia, or Zidonia, was often given 
to Phoenicia itself; for the people, the works, and the power of this great city were 
typical of the whole land. There is scarcely a nation of the very early times more 
interesting than the Phoenicians; it was distinguished for industry, commerce, and naviga- 
tion. The people were much like the Hebrews, with a similar language. Perhaps they 
both came from the same race at first ; but they were a separate nation, living on the 
south-eastern coasts of the Mediterranean before the fifteenth century B.C., when the 
Israelites went into Canaan. The Phoenicians were different from almost all other ancient 
people, because, as an English writer says, they were colonizers not conquerors; peaceful 



Sidon. 



: OD 



merchants, not fighting meddlers; intrepid and enterprising seamen, not bold and am- 
bitious soldiers; industrious and ingenious workmen and creators, not ruthless and 
wanton destroyers of the labors of their fellow-men. They did a great deal toward the 
world's civilization, because they made and scattered useful things and the arts of manufac- 
ture, because they spread knowledge and culture, all of which they partly wrought out 
in their own land, and partly received from the many foreign countries they visited. With 
them the most desirable qualities of men were not brute-like courage and military valor, 




SIDON. 



which could make enemies and conquer them; but such courage as, combined with skill, 
enabled them to be good seamen and explorers. Intelligence and ingenuity were dearer 
to them than the spoils of war, or extension of empire. Their colonies were established 
for the sake of enterprise rather than dominion; that is to spread their arts and enlarge 
their trade, not for the glory of subduing other people to their will. The narrow strip of 
land of the mother country of Phoenicia lay chiefly between Mount Lebanon and the 
south-eastern coast of the Great Sea. It was a fertile land, rich in timber trees and 



236 Cities of the Ancient World. 

fruits, where pines, firs, cypresses, sycamores, and cedars grew in great forests, and 
groves of figs, olives, dates, pomegranates, citrons, and almonds filled the valleys and 
engirdled other cities as they did Sidon. 

The country was not united into one great independent state, but was made up of 
separate cities and colonies, each of which had its allies or enemies among the others, 
although sometimes all would unite against a foreign invasion or any danger that 
threatened them alike. Each city was governed by a king or petty chief, while under 
him, or with him, there was a body of judges — either members of the aristocracy or men 
elected by the people — who had a share in the government. But the main interest of 
the land was in commerce and manufacture, and the matters of government — so impor- 
tant to the Greeks — were of comparatively small account. Their prosperity was at its 
height from the eleventh to the sixth century B.C., and it was during that era that they 
established many colonies on the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. Being great 
navigators, they never lacked courage to try unknown parts of the sea; while they were 
so thrifty and enterprising that wherever they went they planted a settlement. Cyprus, 
Rhodes, the yEgean Sea Islands, Sardinia, Sicily, the Balearic Islands, Cilicia 3 and Spain 
were peopled by them, while the most adventurous even went beyond the Pillars of 
Hercules — two great rocks which stood at the entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar — out of 
the Mediterranean upon the Atlantic Ocean. One party founded the city of Cadiz in 
Spain, or the ancient city of Gades on the same site; and others crossed the stormy 
waters of the modern Bay of Biscay to the Scilly Isles and coast of Cornwall in Britain, 
or went to the Canaries, or the Azores; and one of the parties hired by Necho, King of 
Egypt, went around Africa from the Red Sea to the Nile. In the Eastern Seas there 
were Phoenician trading-places on the Arabian and Persian Gulfs. These opened com- 
munication from the eastern coast of Africa to Western India, and Ceylon. 

Thus it was that the wide trade of Sidon grew, and afterward of her more powerful 
daughter-city Tyre, and still later of her yet more commanding grand-daughter Carthage. 
These celebrated Phoenician centers one after another controlled the commerce of the 
ancient world from the earliest of seafaring times, till their art spread over the earth 
and became common property. Beside carrying their wares and manufactures abroad, 
they did a large import trade; what they did not produce themselves they got from 
others, partly for their own use, but chiefly to send out again to other places where it 
was rare and would bring good prices. Thus history-writers show us, to Sidon and to 
Tyre there were brought the wealth of every land: spices — especially myrrh and frank- 
incense — of Arabia; ivory, ebony, and cotton goods of India; linen yarn and corn from 
Egypt; wool and wine from Damascus; embroideries from Babylon and Nineveh; 
pottery from Attica; horses and chariots from Armenia; copper from the shores of the 
Euxine Sea; lead from Spain; and tin from Cornwall. In return for these, or along 
with the cargoes made up for exportation, Phoenicia sent out quantities of her own 



Sidon. 



237 



products, principally woods, fruits, glassware, and rich dyes, especially the Tyrian 
purple, which was used to border royal robes. The first glass in the world was made in 
ancient Sidon; it was partly manufactured from fine white sand found in plentiful quanti- 
ties near the headland called Mount Carmel. It was a novelty and a luxury, and was 
in great demand in all elegant cities, and brought extravagant prices. Gathering wealth, 




ANCIENT CITY GATE IN SYRIA. 

or money-making as we would say, was the great object of the Phoenicians. They per- 
fected themselves in manufacturing and arts, for that; they explored the world for new 
markets for their wares, and for new wares for their markets; and they even did a 
kidnapping and slave trade besides using all the lawful means they knew. Their eager- 
ness for riches was of more benefit to the world than to themselves, for, while they 
became selfish and arrogant, they were the means of finding out and telling Other nations 



238 Cities of the Ancient World. 

many important and useful things, and of supplying less ingenious and enterprising 
people with their articles and also their arts. " Phoenician drinking-cups of silver and 
of gold, and Sidon's works in brass were famous, and her weavers were skilled in making 
cloth of flax and of cotton grown and spun in Egypt; and they were the best ship- 
builders and the most famous miners of their times, beside being great dyers, weavers, 
metalists, and glass-makers. All of science and arts that any nation could give, they 
were able to develop and improve upon, and then to spead far and wide. Their most 
important legacy to the world was the alphabet, for it was they who made a sign to 
stand for a sound, as an improvement upon the difficult writing-language of the Egyptian 
hieroglyphs, and from which, through the Greeks and the Romans, we have our alpha- 
bet. The Phoenicians gave the world a great deal in material things; but, excepting 
the alphabet, no such intellectual, moral, or political improvements came from them as 
from Greece and Rome; in these things they had a low standing. The people rolled in 
wealth, and had many bad ways. Their enterprise and industry we admire, but because 
they pushed these only for the money they would bring, their great city was a vanity 
fair, gorgeous and beautiful with all that wealth could provide; but its people were 
worldly, unhappy, and sometimes degraded. 

The Sidonian ladies were extravagantly fond of gold and silver ornaments, and be- 
decked themselves with chains, bracelets, necklaces, anklets, and rings without number. 
Strings of coins were worn around the forehead, suspended from the neck, and falling 
down even to the waist; and their large loose garments were most elaborate in material 
and style. 

Sidon was one of the cities which Joshua named for the Israelites, but instead of 
ever belonging to them, it was often in arms against them, either by itself or in league 
with some of their deadliest enemies. After a while it was conquered by its own city 
of Tyre, but the Sidonians preferred a foreign yoke to that; and from that time owned 
allegiance to Assyria, then to Chaldsea, and then to Persia. With the last empire it 
kept a sort of independence, and flourished in great prosperity, which was broken up by 
a revolt in about 350 b.c. A score of years later the people yielded at once to Alexan- 
der, after which Sidon was in the possession of the Syrians, then the Greeks and then the 
Romans, but the old-time importance never again went back to it. 

The great city of Palestine, at the beginning of the Christian Era, was Csesarea; it 
was built by Herod on the site of a town which some writers call " Strato's Tower." 
The city was built with great magnificence, and named in honor of the emperor Augustus.. 
Its completion was celebrated, B.C. 13, by splendid games, and it speedily rose to a 
position of great importance, with a population of two hundred thousand. A noble 
temple, dedicated to Caesar, crowned a height within the city walls. A theater, a circus, 
and aqueducts were built, and a magnificent harbor, said to have been equal in extent 
to the Piraeus of Athens, was formed. Great stones were sunk in the harbor to the 



C<zsarea. 



239 



depth of twenty fathoms, and an immense breakwater was made so as to defend the 
ships from gales. Lofty towers were built upon it, having vaulted chambers within for 
the sailors and a broad quay which was a promenade as well as a landing-place for 
merchandise. This beautiful harbor, with its strong tower at the entrance to protect 
the city from invasion, was the boast of Caesarea. Many of the early Christians did 
some of their first missionary work here, among whom were Philip with his four daughters, 
and Peter, who baptized the first Gentile convert in this city. It was here that Paul, a 




VALLEY OF JEHOSAPHAT, WITH THE TOMBS OF ABSALOM, ST. JAMES AND ZACHARIAS. 

prisoner, preached of "righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come," and made 
the proud Felix tremble. Here also, Herod, the grandson of the founder of Caesarea, 
murdered the Apostle James, and would gladly have murdered Peter also. It is recorded 
in history as the capital of Roman tyranny in Judea. . There the great revolt broke out 
that spread all over Syria, in about the middle of the first century a.d. In after years 
it was occupied by the Crusaders; now it is a heap of half-buried ruins, and a few fisher- 
men live where the magnificent work of Herod once stood — a superb Grecian city upon 
the Syrian shore. 



MESOPOTAMIA. 

7^ HE first cities of the world were in Asia. The earliest empire was probably founded 
about two hundred years after the flood, by Nimrod, a great-grandson of Noah. 
This was in Mesopotamia, the lower portion of what is now Turkey-in-Asia, between the 
Euphrates and Tigris rivers. For thousands of years it has been a sandy waste, dotted 
by a few small cities and Arab villages, while the glories of powerful people lay hidden 
in a few mounds which looked like natural hills on the river banks. When some of 
these mounds were opened, they were found to contain long-lost chapters of Chaldean, 
Assyrian, and Babylonian history, and by the patient work of some French and English 
archaeologists, have been made to tell the world almost the full story of mighty, ancient 
nations. 

The Assyrian empire was founded by Ashur, who left the banks of the Euphrates 
after the Confusion of Babel, and going eastward, made conquests so great that he was 
called king. He built cities upon the banks of the Tigris river, and of which Nineveh 
became his capital. 

By successful wars this empire grew to be one of the most powerful of all that flour- 
ished between one and two thousand years before Christ. It stood for many centuries, 
but at last, through the careless neglect of king after king, it gradually declined, and 
was overcome by the Babylonians and Persians some time in 800 B.C. After this con- 
quest the Ninevites rallied ; they set up the second Assyrian Empire, and rebuilt the 
old capital. 

But they were again overpowered in 606 B.C., and this time when the " exceeding 
great city " fell, it was forever, so that two centuries later, the people of the country did 
not even know' where it had been. 

Nineveh stood on the Tigris, opposite where Mosul is now, which is about on a line 
with the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean, or the city of Washington in the United 
States. The waters of the " Royal River " washed its western wall, which followed the 
stream for more than two and a half miles. The northern wall was straight and seven 
thousand feet long. It was made in three sections ; the first two rose gradually to the 
eastern portion, which was level and higher than the others. The eastern was the 
longest and most irregular of all the ramparts. It skirted a rocky ridge, which forced it 
to curve westward gradually after the first three-fourths of a mile ; the whole length being 
three miles. The southern wall was three thousand feet long, connecting the ends of the 
two side walls and crossing a deep ravine. The area of eighteen miles inclosed 



Nineveh. 



241 



by these walls was shaped like a " triangle with its apex abruptly cut off to the south ; " 
the circuit was about eight miles, surrounded by the Tigris, and by the waters of the 
Khosr-Su, whose waters, coming to the city from a northerly direction, were turned into 
the broad, deep moat. The walls were more than a hundred feet high and so 
broad that three chariots could be driven abreast across the top. One-half the height 
was built of neat blocks of hewn stone, masoned together, smoothed off, polished and 
finished with battlements or gradines ; above the stone was a continuation of sun-dried 
bricks, completing the height of the ramparts. At short distances apart many hundreds 
of high towers surmounted the wall and guarded the city gates. In the center of the 
slope of the northern wall stood* one of the chief portals, through which a roadway led 
out of the capital. The great gate had 
three paved entrances ; that in the 
center was ornamented with plain slabs 
of alabaster ; but the arches on either 
side by colossal bulls that had wings and 
human heads, and other figures sculp- 
tured in stone. Between the gate- 
ways were two arched chambers, large 
enough lo hold a good-sized body of 
soldiers. The massive gates were 
probably made of wood. Moats and 
outworks beyond the walls were an 
extra defense of the city. 

What the plan was within the 
ramparts is unknown, except that there 
were many streets and squares, gardens, 
sculptures and fine buildings, with 
pasture for the cattle, fields, trees and 

vineyards. There were about one hundred and seventy-five thousand people 
living here in the days of its greatness. The most magnificent part of Nineveh 
was in the western portion, where two vast plateaux, covered with fine buildings, stood 
close upon the walls, dividing it into three equal parts. The southern mound, called 
the Nebi Yanus — the " Prophet Jonah " — covers about forty acres, where once stood 
the palaces of Sennacherib and of Eseanhaddon. The Tomb of Jonah is supposed to 
be here, upon the place where the prophet of God " cried against the wickedness of the 
city." In the same wall the mound called Koyunjik stands further north. Here was a 
platform, covering about a hundred acres, occupied by the palaces and temples of the 
Assyrian kings Sennacherib and Assurbampal, which were among the largest and most 
richly ornamented structures ever known. 




NINEVEH PORTAL FIGURE. 



242 Cities of the Ancient World. 

The second city of the empire was Calah, now known as the ruins at Nimried. 
This, too, was on the Tigris, the " arrow stream," thirty miles below the capital. It 
covered about a thousand acres, half the area of Nineveh, and was surrounded with forti- 
fications. The towered walls, a hundred feet high, were nearly seven miles around, and 
were twenty-five feet deep. The handsomest part of the city was the royal quarter, 
which extended for a third of a mile along the western part. Here were the buildings 
of the king upon a huge platform raised above the level of the city, covering sixty acres 
with its stately palaces, magnificent temples, and the tower or pyramid, which is still 
famous, standing silent, dismantled and alone on the vast Assyrian plain. In ancient 
days it probably rose from a large square base by several stages or stories to about two 
hundred feet in height. Within were arched chambers or galleries lined with bricks. No 
one knows for what the tower was built, nor what purpose it has served. There are no 
traces of its having been put to any use — surely not for a tomb. It was part of a temple 
which contained courts and galleries, apartments for the priests and closets for the shrines, 
and the garments and instruments used in making sacrifices. At the great entrance- 
gates stood colossal animals with other sacred figures, covered with inscriptions. The 
hallways and chambers were ornamented with slabs sculptured with religious subjects, 
and wherever the slabs did not hide the rude bricks, enameled bricks were placed to fill 
the gaps. The interior was usually decorated with paintings of figures or patterns on the 
wall plastering. The roofing of the Nimried tower was of cedar, brought from the 
mountains of Syria. 

The third great Assyrian city is said to have been Asshur, now called the ruins at 
Kileh-Sherghat, forty miles below Calah, on the opposite banks of the Tigris. It was the 
most southerly of the large towns of the empire, and was, like the others, surrounded 
by strong walls, inclosing streets, squares, houses, palaces, pyramids and temples. It 
was among the oldest of the Assyrian cities, and is said to have been the capital before 
the days of Nineveh. 

These are a few, and the most important, of all the cities, which studded the country 
between the Tigris and the mountains during the time of the Assyrian rule. On the 
western side of the river there were many great towns ; but as the country came under 
the sway of other conquerors, the traces of former wealth and glory perished. But not 
entirely ; and almost within our own century the slight remains of cities and towns, or a 
single palace, temple or tower have gradually been fitted together, bit by bit, till the 
history has become nearly complete. 

We owe a great deal to the discoveries among the ruins near the little Arab village 
of Khorsabad. The small stream of Khoer-su, which flowed into the Tigris at Nineveh, 
connected the ancient capital with the imperial residence of Sargon, about nine miles 
from the north-east corner of the city wall. It occupied a square platform, measuring 
about a mile each way ; near the center of the north-west side stood the great T shaped 



Khorsabad. 243 

palace, with thirty courts and over two hundred apartments, and an imposing front a 
fourth of a mile long. 

Every effort at grandeur, magnificence and beauty was centred — and reached its 
height — in the palaces. They were built upon vast platforms made of layers of sun dried 
bricks, incased by solid stone masonry, with edges protected by a parapet. The pave- 
ments were made of stone slabs with inscriptions upon them, or pattern and sculpture 
ornaments. The large bricks were sometimes two feet square. The platform was usually 
terraced, one stage being connected with another by staircases or inclined planes. The 
palaces were mainly composed of courts, grand halls, and small rooms for the private 
use of the royal household, all built in squares or oblongs. The rooms and halls were 
not well arranged ; there were few passage-ways and corridors ; the chambers seemed 
to be grouped together, with ten or twelve opening from one to another without any 
single connecting way. The halls were very large assembly rooms paved with brick and 
ornamented with elaborate sculptures on all sides. 

The inclosure of this palace of Sargon, son of Sennacherib, was nearly square, each 
side being about six thousand feet long, with the corners of the wall pointing toward the 
four cardinal points. The palace itself stood upon a raised platform which projected con- 
siderably beyond the middle of the north-west wall, so that the side does not seem to 
have been defended where it overlooked the open plain. It was entered from the city 
by an outer portal. Over this was an arch of enameled brick, and on each side stood 
colossal human headed bulls. Within was a terrace, the top of which was reached by a 
flight of steps or an inclined plane, and the inner gateway or Propylaum of the palace. 
This was in the center of the south-east side of the first terrace, a grand gate-way, ninety 
feet wide, and about twenty-five feet deep, upon which immense winged bulls were 
sculptured ; the largest — about twenty feet high and the same distance apart — were like 
door-posts or columns to the lofty arch over the entrance. Upon this platform were the 
rooms of the royal guard, with walls which were wonderfully ornamented in plaster. 
The next platform, on which the palace stood, rose at about three hundred feet from the 
edge of this, having its level about ten feet higher. Here was the great court, into which 
the main portals of the palace itself opened. This was a vast space, surrounded by 
apartments on three sides, whose walls, or facades were, some of them, richly sculptured 
in stone or decorated in plaster. 

The principal part of the palace was made up of the state apartments, with a mag- 
nificent sculptured facade, and consisting of a suite of ten rooms, five vast halls, the 
most splendid in the palace ; one long and rather narrow room, and four oblong cham- 
bers, — all lined with sculptures picturing the royal customs of Assyria. In another 
court stood the Temple. 

The Assyrians were a very religious people. In their monuments and inscriptions all 
success in war or the chase is ascribed to the favor of the gods. The best of their 



244 Cities of the Ancient World. 

plunder was given in sacrifices and offerings ; and every king beautified and enlarged 
the temples built by his predecessor, and to them also added new ones. In every way, 
Professor Rawlinson says, religion seems to have held an important place with the people ; 
they fought for the honor of their gods, and aimed to extend their belief as much as their 
dominions. 

These " fierce people " of the Scriptures were in countenance something like the 
Jews. Their limbs were strong and brawny, and their shoulders broad and 
large. 

They lived mainly for the sake of conquest ; continual wars made them brave and 
hardy, so that they were ready for hand-to-hand struggles with the lion and many other 
fierce animals which abounded in the country. This was the sport of the men who made 
up that nation which was "a mighty and a strong one, which, as a tempest of hail and a 
destroying storm passed as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, cast down to the earth 
with the hand," of which the capital was called the "bloody city," or "city of blood." 
But with all his mercilessness in battle, the Assyrian was not altogether cruel and in- 
human ; he made conquests with all his might, but often forgave and spared his captives, 
and treated the helpless and the women with thoughtful care. They were a proud peo- 
ple, feeling themselves above all others in rank and the favor of the gods, in wisdom and 
in valor. Their armies consisted of chariot-warriors, cavalry, and foot-soldiers, who 
fought mainly with the spear and bow, although they also used swords, heavy 
maces, daggers, battle-axes, battering-rams, and other instruments of destruction. The 
king, the nobles and the chief officers of state rode in the chariots, and usually fought 
from them. War-chariots were made of wood, with a great, broad tired wheel on 
either side of the square or curved front. They were entered from the rear, which 
was built quite open, but was closed sometimes by hanging a shield across. A pole 
ran from the center, and the car was drawn by two or three horses. The trappings 
were magnificent, consisting of bridle, collar and breastplate, rather bulkily and 
heavily ornamented. The charioteer drove by two reins to each horse, using a short 
whip. Beside the driver, one or two warriors rode in the chariot, sometimes using 
their bows from here, and occasionally dismounting to get into the " thick of the battle." 
The dress of the warrior was a belted tunic, or a short coat of mail. This was a kind 
of shirt, covered with small metal scales. He sometimes wore a helmet, but often 
his head as well as his arm, and, out of the chariot, his legs, were quite unprotected. 
In Assyrian warfare the soldiers on horseback, or cavalry, were next important to 
those in the chariots. They wore pointed helmets, embroidered tunics, and a belt to 
which the sword was attached ; others were completely clothed, except the arms, which 
were bare from above the elbow. Part of the cavalry were archers, part spearmen. 
The horses and riders must have been wonderfully trained. The horses, with the 
bridle upon their necks, and no groom at their heads, as in earlier days, would advance 




1-2, ASSYRIANS. 3-4, COURT OFFICERS. 5, KING. 6. FAN BEARER. 

8, HIGH PRIEST. 9, ATTENDANT. 



7, ARMS BEARER. 



Khorsabad. 245 

or stand, while the warrior, without stirrup, or more than a pad for a saddle, used both 
hands upon his weapons. 

Next to war, the favorite pastime was hunting. Chasing the lion, the wild bull, and 
the onager, or wild ass, were royal sports ; but it was beneath the king to kill gentle 
animals. The stag, wild goat or ibex, the gazelle and the hare, were taken mostly to sup- 
ply the royal table with game. The fishing of the Assyrians seems to have been as 
scientific as that of some modern young folks, who sit contentedly on the dock with a 
piece of thread fastened to a bent pin. The chief aim of the people being conquest, 
they fell behind their neighbors in many of what are called the peaceful arts ; 
yet Nineveh was an important center for trade and manufacture in the old world, not- 
withstanding. From it ran several lines of commerce, especially overland routes. 

The Assyrians did not know very much about boats and navigation. They made 
barges and rafts to carry their provisions, chariots, and war machinery across rivers, and 
fastened inflated skins to them to keep them afloat. The men 
and horses forded the streams, or crossed deeper water with the 
aid of the skins. They used kufas, too, such as are now used 
on the Euphrates and Tigris — round, wickerwork boats, covered 
with skins and smeared with a coating of bitumen. These were 
sometimes large enough to hold a chariot and two rowers, who 
used oars like long-handled mallets. Beside the knfa there 
was a larger, flattish bottomed rowboat, which had six rowers 
and a helmsman. These were for warfare. Stones and wood, 
brought by water, were loaded on a raft-like barge, with ropes 
attached, by which men upon the banks drew the crafts 
along. For the sake of further transportation, the Assyrians 
after a while copied the rowboats and galleys of the Phce- soldier. 

nicians, but they did not introduce their sailboats, but kept 

to river navigation, leaving commerce by way of the sea to their neighbors. 
Nineveh and the cities near by, seem to have been more ready to receive 
articles than to send out their wares. They did not manufacture very largely, 
and only exported a few of their products. In weaving they excelled ; they 
knew how to work into the woof colored threads and tissues of gold, and they had 
plenty of indigo cotton and silk highly prized in other countries. They were not very 
clever at pushing business or commerce for themselves, and so the valuable articles 
always in demand at the magnificent capital usually came chiefly by the way of some 
other countries. Gold from Arabia and Western Africa, tin from Cornwall on the coast 
of Britain or the "Tin Islands " — now Scilly Isles — came through the Phoenicians ; pre- 
cious metals, stones and gems from many parts of the world were understood and well 
appreciated by the Assyrians, but obtained through the enterprising Babylonian mer- 




246 



Cities of the Ancient World. 



chants. Syria supplied the country with wood, and many other countries round about 
found market here for the best that they could raise. The people were fond of beauty 
and splendor. They wanted rich materials, which they well knew how to use. Few 
nations if any excelled them in this. Wonderful things they made with metals, ivory 
and jewels ; manufactured beautiful glassware, embroidered rich garments and hangings, 
made and upholstered splendid furniture, which consisted of thrones, stands, tables, 
chairs, couches and footstools ; but above all were their vast and magnificent buildings, 
which have only been equaled by the Egyptians, who found here their models, and 
" bettered the instruction." Great masses of stone which was not found in their own country 
— weighing many tons, were brought over long distances and placed on artificial platforms 
nearly a hundred feet high ; and as these were finely carved before they were set in 
place, the mechanics must have been sure of their being safely moved. The transporta- 
tion on land was done by means of sledges, drawn by small armies of men, over wooden 




ASSYRIAN RELIEFS. 



rollers. Immense ropes and cables were used to pull the great burden and to keep it 
from swerving or falling. The stones were raised by the aid of strong pulleys ; but the 
chief part of the work fell upon men, thousands being employed on a single piece of 
work. 

The plain of Assyria without and within the city walls was capable of growing large 
crops if well watered. Scarcely any rain fell in the country, so over the whole territory 
there was a system of kandks, underground aqueducts, and a network of canals. Large 
dams in the Tigris, formed by great pieces of square stones fastened together by iron 
clamps, leveled the stream so that the canals oh either bank were filled ; and from 
them smaller ditches carried the water over the plains. The underground conduits 
filled wells or cisterns from which the water was drawn by hand When it was wanted. 
The fields yielded crops of wheat, barley, sesame and millet, while vineyards and 



Khorsabad. 



247 



orchards also dotted the country and supplied the people with pomegranates, figs and 
other fruits. The principal food of the Assyrians was raised from the earth ; they ate 
more grains and fruit than game and fish. The crops, trees and vines were tended by 
the common people and laborers, who dressed in short-sleeved tunics, reaching from the 




ANTECHAMBER OF THE PALACE OF AN ASSYRIAN KING. 



neck to the knee and belted in at the waist. Head and feet were uncovered, except by 
those who could wear the fringed tunics ; these had sandals also. The thick hair was 
arranged in rows of stiff curls at the back of the head ; the long beard, too, was care- 
fully and elaborately arranged by men of every rank. Armlets, bracelets, earrings and 
many other ornaments were worn by those above the laboring class, botli men and women. 



248 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Some of the "better class" had long fringed robes with a showy girdle, and a cross belt, 
from the left shoulder, often richly embroidered with jewels, held the sword sheath. 
The women's robes were less scant than the men's ; they were striped, or patterned and 
fringed, sometimes having an outer garment like a mantle, or long circular. 

The common houses are entirely lost ; they are thought not to have been very 
substantial and were probably much like pavilions or tents. The household vessels 
were of pottery, glass and metals, gracefully shaped and often decorated with figures, 
patterns or inscriptions. The people were fond of entertainments, which the 
wealthy citizens made as elegant and sumptuous as possible, with rich food, delicious 
fruits and a great deal of wine, and many kinds of amusement, especially dancing 
and music. They had eight or nine different instruments, and in times of peace, 
enjoyed music very much. Their musicians played separately or in bands upon harps, 
lyres and cymbals, double-pipes, the guitar or cithern, several kinds of drum, and a few 
others, particularly trumpets, which may not be fairly called musical. Their music was 
not martial, but for peaceful enjoyment and religious ceremonies. Besides being musi- 
cal, some of these people were literary. At least, in the Koyunjik mound "chambers of 
records " have been found, which are called the King's library. " These were small 
rooms partly filled with clay tablets, varying from one inch to nine inches in length," and 
crowded with fine writing upon a great many subjects. From these a key to the language, 
history, customs, science and literature of the Assyrians has been formed. They have 
helped to explain the inscriptions lining the walls of the palaces and temples — and upon 
the hollow cylinders. These six-sided and eight-sided prisms of very fine and thin terra 
cotta were covered with records of the worthy acts of the king and religious invocations, 
and set in the corners of the temples, probably as much to preserve them as to dedicate 
them to the gods. The king was to be famous forever ; he was the ruler of all, — " the 
lord of the kingdom, master of the souls and bodies of his people." No lavishness was 
too great for his royal residence ; no demands too great for his pleasure, nor any sacri- 
fices too heavy for carrying out his ambitious plans of conquest. 



BABYLON. 

WHEN the "children of men" journeyed away from the vicinity of Mt. Ararat they 
began to build a city of brick, and also a tower, " whose top might reach unto 
heaven." They called it Babel, or Gate of God ; but the Lord suddenly stopped their 
impossible enterprise by causing them to speak different languages. 

This threw the people into so great a tumult and uproar that from then till now the 
word Babel has meant confusion. " They left off to build the city " and were " scattered 
abroad upon the face of the earth ; " but a year after, when Nimrod, a wise and powerful 
man, wished to found an empire, he chose this spot in the midst of its fair rich plain. It 
stood on the banks of the largest river of the country, which flowed southward into a 
great sea not so very far away. In memory of the other event Nimrod called his city, 
Babylon. 

Of what the city was like, or what was done in it during these first days, history tells 
very little, — not even the time is known for certain, but it is believed to have been about 
two thousand and two hundred years before Christ (2200 B. c.) Some other cities were 
also founded about this time ; Nineveh was one of them, the seat of the emperor Ninus, 
who ruled the Assyrian Empire. From first to last this was closely connected with Baby- 
lon. It began by capturing the king and his children, putting them all to death and 
bringing Babylon into the Empire. When Ninus died his wonderful queen Semiramis, 
anxious for everlasting fame, decided to begin her reign, — rather her regency till her son 
should grow up — by some mighty piece of work, so she collected two millions of men 
from the provinces of her Empire and sent them to enlarge and beautify Babylon. The 
city became so grand and magnificent that it was for ages the admiration of the world. 
The Assyrian kings which followed, having no such spirit and ability as the lady, pro- 
voked the Babylonians sorely ; before long they threw off the yoke and the beautiful 
city became the capital of the new Assyrian Empire of Babylonia, or Chaldea. After 
about two centuries and a half more this independent nation destroyed the second Assyrian 
Empire, which had centered around Nineveh after the downfall of the first. Other victories, 
too, they won, till the Babylonians became a large and powerful domain, with the center 
of life and importance at Babylon, the " great city." Year after year it was enriched by 
the spoils of many conquests over wealthy countries and magnificent cities ; but the Baby- 
lonians did not trust to conquest for the making of their capital. They were quick 
and clever and worked industriously themselves in the arts they knew, making 
buildings of bricks, many costly things with metals, and fine fabrics in their looms 



250 Cities of the Ancient World. 

Immense armies were garrisoned here and brisk trade by water and land carried 
on with all parts of the known world. Old Herodotus, "the father of history," 
came from Greece to visit the country, about 450 B.C. He found that the empire con- 
tained " a vast number of great cities," and wrote a full description of Babylon, which 
surpassed them all. The magnificence described by him might be doubted, but that the 
researches of our own century tell the same story. This city, capital of many empires 
in the course of time, was one of the wonders of the world, for its size, its buildings and 
gardens, and for its vast wealth. Its walls, in the form of a square, had over a 
hundred towers rising at regular distances above the battlements ; they measured 
sixty miles around the city, fifteen miles each way. They were three hundred and fifty 
feet high — higher than the loftiest tower of the London Parliament Houses — and 
eighty-seven feet thick ; the top was so broad that a four-horse chariot could turn 
upon it ; they were built of cemented brick made of clay, taken out of the broad 
•deep ditch which surrounded the city. On each side were twenty-five gates of solid 
brass, with brazen lintels and door-post. 

Through the center of the city, from north to south, ran the river Euphrates, 
oetween quays of the same thickness as the walls. These also had each twenty-five 
brass gates, and steps leading down to the river from the cross-streets of the city. 
Babylon was made up of regularly planned streets, broad and straight, which met at 
right angles and formed nearly seven hundred great squares, each of which measured 
two miles and a quarter round. But the entire surface of the two hundred square miles 
inclosed by the walls of Babylon probably was not built up. Beside the blocks of 
three and four story houses of the time, a large part was occupied by country 
houses, gardens and parks, while even fields and orchards lay within the fortifi- 
cations ; artificial streams watered them and made the "great city" green and 
fertile every where. The river was crossed in the heart of the town by a mova- 
ble drawbridge ; it was roofed over, though thirty feet broad and an eighth of a 
mile long. The hewn stones of the piers upon which it was built, were fastened together 
with iron clamps. Ferry boats, plying between the landing places of the gates, also con- 
nected the two parts of the city, while below the bridge was a tunnel under the river, 
which was used for a passageway between the palaces which stood at each end of the 
bridge. On the eastern bank was the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, the larger of the 
two, and one of the most vast and magnificent structures the world ever saw. Its great 
outer wall made a circuit of seven miles, inside of which was another, and this inclosed 
a, third. These inner walls were decorated with hunting scenes, painted on brick ; the 
gates were of brass, two of them being so built that they could only be opened or shut 
by machinery. Within the ramparts of the palace were the famous Hanging Gardens, 
that the king built for his queen, Amrytis, that she who had come from the fair green 
hills of Media, might find no cause to pine for the home of her childhood in the midst 



Babylon. 



251 



of this vast Babylonian plain. The clever workmen set up stone pillars and arches over 
nearly four acres of ground. At a height of seventy-five feet the base of the gardens 
was made by laying a floor of stone slabs. These were spread with reeds and bitumen, 
upon which bricks were laid, cemented together, and covered with sheets of lead, which 
kept the moisture from flowing down out of the deep layer of earth above. After 
this plan, arch upon arch was raised to form a terraced pyramid, three hundred feet 
high ; when the vast mound was completed, it was 
planted with trees and shrubs ; flower beds were laid 
out, bordered by shady avenues, and set with fount- 
ains, summer-houses, and handsome banquet-halls. 
Upon the summit was a large reservoir which was 
kept filled from the Euphrates by a screw, for the 
purpose of watering the gardens and supplying the 
many fountains upon the different terraces. From 
various places in the gardens there were fine and 
extended views of the magnificent city and the 
plains beyond, where carefully built canals and lakes 
lay to receive the overflow of the river in times of 
freshet, or to carry it into the Tigris. The king was 
very proud of all this work he had done upon his im- 
perial home ; he had made the palace itself massive 
and beautiful to correspond with its surroundings. 
Three of the halls, used for certain festivals, were 
constructed of brass, one under another, and 
opened by curious sets of machinery. Most of it 
was built in brick, with all the rich and comfortable 
apartments appropriate to " the house of royalty in 
Babylon," of which the king himself boasted "silver, 
gold, metals, gems, nameless and priceless, objects 
of rare value, immense treasures, have I heaped 
together to ornament that tower, the abode of my 
majesty." Even libraries were collected, and in those 
warlike days there was little of reading and writing ; 
but the Babylonians knew something about the three R's. They had an alphabet ; some 
early nations, you know, had not, and did their writing by a language in figures of birds 
and animals, called hieroglyphics. The Babylonians kept their records upon tiles and 
cylinders of clay or cement, not knowing how to make books, paper, or parchment with 
the materials they had ; so the two libraries of Nebuchadnezzar's palace would look to» 
us very much like some scratched up pieces of tile and bricks out of a pottery shop. 




NIMROD. 



252 Cities of the Ancient World. 

The key to the Babylonian language is not found, although there have been many pieces 
of inscriptions preserved, and scholars are patiently at work who feel sure that one day 
it will be discovered. 

The opposite palace was also very handsome, though smaller than Nebuchadnezzar's. 
It belonged to Neriglissar, and contained many bronze statues. In the center of the city 
•stood the temple of Bel, the most remarkable of all those wonderful buildings. It was a 
pyramid, square at the base, with each side six hundred feet long ; it was made up of 
eight stories, which grew smaller toward the top, and crowned by an astronomical 
observatory, reached by a winding ascent. Within the temple were large halls, the ceil- 
ings of which were supported by pillars — chapels for the worship of Bel and other gods ; 
altars and shrines containing statues, censers, cups and sacred vessels, all of gold. On 
the topmost story was a table of beaten gold, forty feet long and about one-third as 
wide ; upon this were goblets and vases of the richest kind, while near it were three 
golden statues whose names we have from the Greeks after their own deities, which may 
have corresponded to those of the Babylonians in all but their titles. The figures of 
Jupiter — or Bel, probably — and Rhea were each forty feet high, the latter grasping a 
serpent in one hand and a jeweled scepter in the other. Juno was represented as 
sitting on a golden throne with lions at each knee, and two serpents of silver. The 
treasures of this temple, gained by the Babylonian kings in plundering their neighbors, 
were worth about six hundred millions of dollars. A similar temple, at Borsippa, the 
suburb of the city, was built in seven stages or stories, each ornamented with one of the 
seven planetary colors. The lowest stage was a square, measuring nearly three hundred 
feet each way, its four corners corresponding to the four cardinal points ; and each 
square stage above was placed a little toward the south-western edge of the one beneath 
it. This temple is known as the Birs Nimried, and was probably devoted to astronomy, 
as cylinders have been found in its ruins with dedications to " the Seven Planets." The 
religion of the empire was the worship of sun, moon and stars, and the gods, which were 
thought to be men and women, united to the heavenly bodies after their death upon 
earth. Above all other gods the people worshiped Bel, who was also called Belus or 
Baal — meaning " Lord." The gods were supposed to have many forms, which were 
both monstrous and horrible : often with several heads and the limbs of both men and 
brutes. The religious ceremonies would seem to us not only very absurd, but repulsive, 
wicked and cruel. 

There is no record of the number of people living in the great capital, but we know 
that there must have been many thousands — even millions — from the amount of work 
done not only in the regular trade of daily life, but in these great brick structures, which 
were, in some cases, built in a very short time. West of the river was the oldest part of 
the city, and where the foundations of the first settlement were laid. Nearly every trace 
of that time is gone now, and the Babylon of history was the great city on both sides 



Babylon. 253 

of the river, with its busy trade, regular streets, extensive buildings and luxurious 
living. 

Robes of fine linen, falling to the feet, were worn under woolen tunics, and covered 
with a handsome white cloak. On the head finely plaited turbans or miters were placed. 
Double and triple carpets covered their floors, with such colors, corresponding to the 
Surdones hanging upon the walls, so beautiful that the Oriental kings imported them for 
robes of state. Nowhere were such fine veils and hangings made as in the looms of 
Babylon and Borsippa. Here were combined delicacy of fabric and splendor of coloring 
in articles of dress and of furniture, made of cotton, linen and woolen. All that the 
country supplied the people, they used according to their knowledge. 

It was not alone in weaving that they were skillful, but in the arts of machinery and 
working metals, for which they found furnace-fuel in the plentiful supplies of naphtha and 
petroleum near by. Their ability in using metals did a great deal to make up for what 
the country lacked in stone and wood. Mathematics, astronomy and painting they also 
understood. 

For the necessities and luxuries they could not supply for themselves, every country in 
the world was called upon. Gold, precious stones, rich dye-stuffs and perfumes, which 
they wanted in large quantities, came from the East, from northern India and Persia ; 
fine wool and shawls were brought in caravans from the countries now known as Canda- 
har and Cashmere, as they are to the great cities of our own times. 

Emeralds, jaspers with other glittering gems came from the Bactrian Desert, now 
called Cobi. The "ship of the desert " also sailed westward, carrying to the Mediter- 
ranean colonies, Asia Minor and the European frontier, the rare things of the Orient, and 
returning laden with valuable furs and the best that the newer nations had to send ; 
while with the settlements on the Red Sea from the mines of Ethiopia, also a trade of 
immense wealth to Babylon was carried on. These were but the land routes ; there 
were unlimited water-ways beside. Boats navigated the Euphrates for more than three 
hundred miles, past many important cities and into fertile districts of country where the 
people had large flocks, rich harvests, and were always occupied in taking care of these, 
in manufacturing or in learning trades and arts. Below the great capital, the broad 
yellow river flows into the Persian Gulf, whose shores were lined with pearl oysters, and 
in which the Bahrein Islands lay with their cotton plants — producing finer material even 
than those of India, and the rarest pearls in the world ; from the Gulf the Indian Ocean 
was reached, India and Ceylon. Here Babylon found trees to take the place of the 
timber lacking in her own country, here were more pearls, sugar-cane, cinnamon and all 
the spices that the people could not get, — twenty-five tons of frankincense must be 
had for every annual festival of Jupiter, to say nothing of the quantities wanted for 
private use by the luxurious people. Indian dogs, too, were taken in this way to the 
city, where they were valued most highly for some unknown reason, being ugly creatures, 



254 Cities of the Ancient World. 

half-dog and half-tiger in looks and disposition. In this way, all the world for a time 
centered its trade in the rarest articles at Babylon, which they called the " mistress of 
the world." To some it was the center of land traffic for water export : or for goods 
brought in ships to be here transferred to caravans ; but mostly it was for Babylon 
itself, for her temples and palaces, her splendor loving people, and especially her king. 
Him, the Babylonian government gave a chance to be the greatest despot the world ever 
saw. The monarch's will was law, unlimited by any code, or even by honored customs. 
He was the head of the church as well as the state, worshiped while obeyed. He had 
as many wives as he wished and as many of his subjects as he wanted were compelled 
to work upon palaces for them, or in any other way, to do his royal will. His will 
made the laws of the people, who had many singular customs. When they were sick, 
friends or servants carried them to the public squares of the city, that some of the pas- 
sers-by — many of whom were sure to be educated foreigners — might advise them how to 
cure their troubles. These squares were often market places, thronged with men buy- 
ing and selling ; sometimes it was young girls that they were bargaining for. The 
daughters of Babylon were not allowed to marry of their own will or by their parents' 
choice, but must be sold to the highest bidder. Some that were not good looking had 
no buyers, but husbands were found for them, when the fund from the sale of the others 
was divided among them. Other laws of the times were about children and parents, 
slaves, etc. If a son denied his father, he was fined ; but for denying his mother, he 
was banished ; a master who used a slave badly was fined by the state, which also 
allowed a slave to buy his freedom when he wished to or could ; houses, lands or slaves 
could be taken as security for debt. The laws of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires 
were widely studied, well understood and strictly enforced. 

It is not well even for a king to have unlimited power ; he is almost sure to use it 
wrongly. Belshazzar felt that nothing could injure Babylon : was not the Mistress of the 
World beautiful, rich and powerful beyond any other city ? who could overcome her ? 
Not the warlike Medes, even if they were provoked at the recklessness of the king, no, 
not Darius the Mede and his brother Cyrus the Persian, with all their armies encamped 
outside the walls of the great City. " Lock the gates ; keep the moats full, and let us 
rejoice in our security," he said, and opened a festival and feast of gayest revelry. The 
warrior-king without reconnoitered, considered, reconnoitered again. " Yes, it were pos- 
sible," and while the drunken king, his court and his guards were in the midst of their 
carousing, the waters of the Euphrates were turned into the overflow lake and canals. 
Then the mustered hosts of the enemy marched stealthily over its bed, and finding the 
brazen river gates carelessly left open, they entered the city, even the banquet halls of 
the Palace, where they slew the last of the Babylonian kings, who had been " weighed 
in the balance and found wanting." 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Italy : — 

The Roman Eagle .... 7 

Roman Forum 9 

Augustus 13 

The Appian Way 15 

Interior of the Pantheon ... 21 

Julius Caesar 23 

Roman Villa 27 

Nero 29 

Macenaes 31 

Baths of Caracalla ^^ 

Coliseum 36 

Interior of a Roman House . . 39 

Roman Garden Scene ... 42 

Roman and Toga 43 

Roman Matron 44 

Arch of Constantine .... 45 

Constantine the Great ... 47 

Virgil 52 

Cicero rg 

Roman Consul 57 

Cleopatra's Journey .... 61 

The Laocoon 63 

Homer 67 

Roman Types and Costumes . 69 

Greece : — 

Types and Costumes .... 73 



PAGE 

Greece: — 

Acropolis of Athens .... 77 

Interior of the Parthenon . . 83 

Market of Athens, or Agora . 'ig 

Themistocles 91 

Pericles 93 

Athens from the East .... 95 

Demosthenes 99 

Parthenon at the time of Pericles 101 

Greek Male Heads . . . . 103 

Greek Female Heads .... 105 

Street of Tombs, Athens . . . 107 

Lysicrates' Monument . . . 109 

Socrates in 

Piraeus, the Port of Athens . . 113 

Mycenae 119 

Sparta 123 

Market place, Sparta . . . . 127 

Miltiades 129 

Egypt: — 

Ancient Vase 131 

Gallery in the Cheops Pyramid . 133 

Temple of Isis 135 

The Rock Temple 137 

Mummy and Coffin .... 139 

Statue of Amenophis . . . . 141 

Sphinx at Karri ac 143 



256 



Illustrations, 



:*. 



Egypt: — 

Interior of the Burial Temple at 

Karnac 147 

Bust of Rameses II 149 

Ancient Coins 151 

Types and Costumes . . . . 151 

Water Carriers 153 

Light House, Alexandria . . 155 

Old Alexandria 157 

Cleopatra's Needle .... 159 

The Great Pyramid . . . . 161 

Types and Costumes .... 161 
Colonies and Islands of the Medi- 
terranean Sea : — 

Alexander the Great .... 165 

Medal of Alexander the Great . 167 

Hannibal 171 

Patmos 175 

Arabia : — 

Types and Costumes . . . . 179 

Persia : — 

Types and Costumes . . . . 191 

Hall of Xerxes in Persepolis . 195 

Rock Grave of Darius . . . 197 

Syria : — 

Damascus 205 



PAGE 

Syria. — 

Syrian Types and Costumes . 207 

Bridge of Jacob's Daughters . 209 

Ancient Aqueduct 211 

Antioch 213 

Syrian Seaport 215 

Great Colonnade, Palmyra . . 217 

Temple at Baalbec . . . . 219 

A Fallen Pillar 221 

Bethlehem 223 

Mountains of Moab .... 225 

The Moabite Stone .... 227 

Cedars of Lebanon . . . . 229 

Solomon's Pools, near Jerusalem 231 

Valley of Shechem .... 233 

Sidon 235 

Ancient City Gate 237 

Valley of Jehosaphat . . . . 239 

Mesopotamia: — 

Nineveh Portal Figure . . . 241 

Assyrian Types and Costumes . 244 

Soldier 245 

Assyrian Reliefs 246 

Antechamber of the Palace of an 

Assyrian King 247 

Nimrod 251 



\ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 953 600 A 



USE m 

Umi ^1 



